Fall is officially here and this salted caramel apple cake is the perfect way to celebrate! It features layers of super moist, perfectly spiced apple cake with an easy homemade salted caramel that you’ll use to flavor the buttercream filling, drizzle in between the layers, use as a cake drip, and coat the apple cake topper. This dripping apple cake design makes it a showstopper at any gathering and it’s so fun to assemble! If you love the sweet and salty complexity that caramel adds to apple flavored things, this cake is going to be right up your alley.
One Reader, Emily, Says: “This cake is one of the most delicious cakes I have ever had in my life! My husband also said he wants this for his birthday from now on! Fantastic recipe!” ★★★★★
My Favorite Spiced Apple Cake
First, let’s talk about this apple spice cake, because it’s the starting point of this recipe and the foundation of all this flavor. It’s made with unsweetened applesauce to give it a nice apple flavor and make it ultra-moist. I tested this recipe with shredded apples and chopped apples, and at the end of the day the applesauce won out for both flavor and texture. Amplifying the apple flavor with the cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg not only gives this cake the perfect spice, it also makes your kitchen smell amazing as it’s baking! There’s nothing more cozy than the aroma of this cake in the oven, especially on a picturesque Fall day.
Easy Salted Caramel That’s So Versatile
The next step in this caramel apple cake is making homemade caramel. If you’ve never made caramel before, fear not! This from-scratch salted caramel recipe couldn’t be easier. There are only four ingredients involved, no candy thermometer necessary, and only takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. Once you make it and cool it to room temperature, you’ll be using this caramel to:
- Make salted caramel buttercream that you’ll use as the filling and crumb coat.
- Drizzle it in between the cake layers for extra caramel flavor
- Drip the cake
- Coat an apple that you’ll use as the cake topper
So versatile! It’s one of my favorite Fall staples.
Two Flavors from One Vanilla Buttercream Recipe
The original salted caramel apple cake recipe I wrote in 2018 had you making the salted caramel buttercream and vanilla buttercream separately, but after revisiting this recipe in 2025 I had some new thoughts about efficiency. Since the salted caramel buttercream is essentially vanilla buttercream with the homemade salted caramel added at the end, I thought it would be easier to just make the vanilla buttercream and divide it in half, then add the salted caramel to one half of the recipe. It’s much more efficient this way!
You’ll use the salted caramel buttercream as cake filling (along with some drizzled salted caramel) and also use it to crumb coat the cake. Then, you’ll use the rest of the vanilla buttercream to frost the cake with a smooth finish.
How to Decorate a Caramel Apple Cake
Decorating this cake is my favorite part! For my final cake presentation, I garnished the bottom edges with chopped pecans, then dripped the cake with salted caramel before placing a caramel apple on top. The goal here was to make it look like the caramel apple was dripping down the sides of the cake. Here’s a video I made (in 2019) to show you the process:
Note that I’ve updated the recipe slightly since that video was made! If you like watching videos like this, I have a ton of decorating tutorials and recipe videos on my YouTube channel. Don’t forget to hit the subscribe button while you’re there so you never miss a new video from me!
More Fall Cake Recipes You’ll Love
If you’re looking for more cake recipes to make this Fall, try these recipes from my blog:
- Apple Spice Cake
- Apple Crisp Cake
- Spice Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Perfect Pumpkin Layer Cake
- Spiced Pumpkin Biscoff Cake
I hope you love this caramel apple cake as much as I do! Let me know if you make it in the comments below and feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram if you post a photo. I love to see what you create with my recipes!
Salted Caramel Apple Cake
Ingredients
Apple Spice Cake
- 2 1/2 Cups (332g) all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1 Cup (226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 1/4 Cups (250g) granulated sugar
- 3/4 Cup (150g) packed brown sugar light or dark
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 Cups (500) unsweetened applesauce
Homemade Salted Caramel
- 1 1/2 Cups (300g) granulated white sugar
- 9 Tbsp (128g) unsalted butter, room temperature cut into Tbsp sized slices
- 3/4 cup (180ml) heavy whipping cream, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Vanilla Buttercream
- 1 1/2 Cups (339g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 5 Cups (600g) powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsp whole milk, room temperature
- 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
Salted Caramel Buttercream
- 2 Cups (432g) vanilla buttercream (recipe above)
- 1/2 Cup (120ml) salted caramel, room temperature (recipe above)
- pinch of salt, or to taste
Additional Garnish
- 1 medium apple
- 1/2 Cup chopped pecans
Instructions
Make The Apple Spice Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC) and prepare three 6-inch or two 8-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and fitting the bottoms with a parchment paper circle.
- In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Whisk together and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer and a large bowl), beat the butter on high speed until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the brown and white sugars and continue to beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and paddle as needed.
- Turn the mixer to low speed and add the vanilla and the eggs. Turn the mixer to medium and beat for one full minute.
- Turn the mixer back to low speed and add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the applesauce, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. When it begins to come together after the last flour addition, turn off the mixer and give it a few stirs by hand to make sure everything is incorporated. The batter will be very thick.
- Divide the batter between your prepared cake pans (fill no more than 2/3 full) and smooth the tops, then bake for 36-42 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely before filling and frosting.
Make The Homemade Salted Caramel
- Have everything pre-measured and ready to go (you’ll be constantly stirring). Place the sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, until it melts into an amber-colored liquid and no sugar clumps remain, 6-8 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Carefully add the butter (it will bubble up when you do) and use a whisk to combine it with the sugar mixture until the butter is fully melted and incorporated, 1-2 minutes.
- Add the heavy whipping cream in a steady stream while whisking. As soon as the cream is incorporated, let the caramel boil for a full minute before removing it from the heat and stirring in the salt.
- Let the caramel cool completely to room temperature before using it in a buttercream recipe, dipping a caramel apple, or dripping the cake. It will thicken as it cools.
Make The Vanilla Buttercream
- With a hand mixer or paddle attachment on your stand mixer, cream the butter on medium-high until it’s creamy and light (almost white) in color, about 7 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar a few cups at a time, mixing on low speed and scraping down the bowl and paddle after each addition is mixed in. Keep the mixer on low speed while you add the vanilla, milk, and salt. Continue mixing until fully incorporated and smooth, about two minutes.
- Set about 3 Cups (648g) of the vanilla buttercream aside in an airtight container, keeping about 2 Cups (432g) of the vanilla buttercream in the mixing bowl for making the salted caramel buttercream.
Make the Salted Caramel Buttercream
- Once the salted caramel is room temperature and thick, add 1/2 Cup (120ml) to the 2 Cups of vanilla buttercream in your stand mixer from the previous step. Mix on low speed until incorporated and smooth, adding a pinch of salt to balance the sweetness.
Assembly
- When the apple spice cake layers are cooled completely, level them to your desired height. Place the first cake layer on your turntable and add a layer of salted caramel buttercream as filling. Drizzle with cooled salted caramel before placing the next cake layer on top and repeating the process of filling and stacking. Place the final apple spice cake layer on top, upside down so that the bottom of the cake becomes the top. Crumb coat the cake with the remaining salted caramel buttercream and refrigerate until firm to the touch, about 30 minutes.
- To create the look pictured, frost the cake with a smooth buttercream finish using the vanilla buttercream and garnish the bottom edge with chopped pecans. Refrigerate the cake once more to let the frosting firm up, about 15 minutes this time.
- While the cake is chilling, pour the remaining Homemade Salted Caramel into a small bowl. Insert a popsicle or cookie stick into the apple and dip it into the caramel, coating it thoroughly. Let the excess caramel drip off of the apple and then set it onto a sheet of wax paper, then place it into the refrigerator with the cake to let the caramel set slightly.
- To create the caramel drip effect, first do a test drip on the chilled cake with room temperature salted caramel. If it’s too thick, microwave it in 15 second bursts to bring it to perfect drip consistency without heating it too much. Drip the sides of the cake with salted caramel and partially fill in the top before topping with the caramel apple. Garnish with more chopped almonds on top of the cake and apple.
Notes
- The spiced apple cake layers can be made ahead and stored, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature for up to two days. Alternatively, you can store the wrapped cake layers in the freezer for up to 2 months before thawing and frosting.
- The homemade salted caramel can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, reheat it in the microwave in 15 second intervals until it reaches room temperature.
- Both of the buttercream flavors can be made ahead and stored in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use them, bring them back to room temperature and re-whip each in your stand mixer to bring back to smooth buttercream consistency.
What are some of your favorite Fall flavors? Besides caramel apple, I love a good Chai Latte and am hoping to incorporate those tasty flavors into a cake and/or cupcakes SOON! In the meantime, if you make this caramel apple cake, I’d love to know how you like it. Tag me on Instagram or let me know in the comments below!
I found you via a pop up ad on Instagram! So glad that I did. You have so many cakes that I can’t wait to try. I’m starting with this recipe but I only have 2 x 6” pans. Would I need to adjust anything for the temp or bake time?
Hi Jen! If the sides of the pans are the standard 2 inches tall, you’ll just need to fill them no more than 2/3 full of batter (you’ll have extra batter unless you scale the recipe down by 2/3). If you have taller 6 inch pans that you plan on dividing the full batch of batter between, I would consider reducing the oven temp to 325F and checking for doneness at the 40 minute mark, then adding time from there if need be. Hope that helps!
I’m so excited to use this recipe for my birthday cake this fall! I will be using 3 6inch pans, standard 2 inches high. I’m sure that I could use the full recipe as far as the batter, right?
I’m making an apple pie filling and a tangy cream cheese buttercream for mine! 🙂
Hi Noel! Yes, this recipe is written for three 6-inch cake pans as is. Pairing it with apple pie filling and cream cheese buttercream sounds amazing!
Great, I’m so excited! Thank you a bunch for the speedy response, Whitney!
I’m confused by the brown sugar measurements. You state 1 cup (162g) packed brown sugar, but the 1 cup weighs quite a bit more than that. Which is correct?
Thanks for catching that typo, Christine! That measurement should be 200g. I changed it in the recipe.
This looks so good! What a great treat to make instead of pie for Thanksgiving!
This cake is one of the most delicious cakes I have ever had in my life! My husband also said he wants this for his birthday from now on! Fantastic recipe! May I ask if I wanted to make a 3 layer 9 inch round cake, would double this recipe be enough for that? Thank you again for a delicious winner!
That’s amazing, Emily! I’m so happy to hear this recipe was a hit! And yes, if you double the recipe it should be more than enough for three 9 inch layers. I bet 1.5x the recipe would be just enough. Be sure to fill the pans no more than 2/3 full regardless 🙂
In my previous question, I forgot to ask if light or dark brown sugar should be use in the cake recipe? Thank you.
Hi Rachel! I’m so excited for you to make this cake! The vanilla buttercream portion of the recipe makes 3 Cups and I prefer light brown sugar in the cake recipe but you can use either. Hope that helps!
I am planning to make this cake this weekend. Could you tell me how many cups of buttercream the vanilla buttercream makes? Thank you.
Do you have any advice on cooking at higher altitude with this cake?
I made this cake for my coworkers’ birthday this week and it was delicious! I did substitute dairy free and gluten free ingredients and it still worked out great. For a festive Halloween type flair I dyed the buttercream green and the caramel black. I found it a little strange to eat black caramel but it was so delicious!
That’s amazing, Robin! I’m so glad that a DF/GF version of this cake worked!
Looks so good, can I use store bought caramel? Thank you!
Hi Sadie! I’ve never tried that as a drip before, so that part would be an experiment, but you should be able to use store bought caramel in the buttercream recipe. As long as you love the taste of it it should work!
Would this recipe be enough for 3 layer 7 inch pans
Hi Tina! Yes, it should be. The layers will be a little shorter, but this recipe makes three tall 6″ layers (they end up being about 2 inches high), so the 7 inch tins might give you something like 1.5″ layers.
Can I do half the recipe for smaller cake?
Hi Darshini! You can absolutely half the recipe and make a smaller cake. Enjoy!
Hi Whitney! I was wondering if I had accidentally made an extra batch of your basic vanilla buttercream if it could be repurposed into this salted caramel one? I noticed the salted caramel buttercream doesn’t have the milk added and has extra powdered sugar, but I’m hoping it would still work.
Hi Jordanne! You could certainly add some salted caramel to the vanilla buttercream and repurpose it. If the consistency ends up too runny, you can always add a little extra powdered sugar and balance the flavor with salt. Enjoy!
Hello Witney,
Can I decorate the cake with fondant characters over the cream ( like animals figure fondant )?
Hi Doris! Yes, you absolutely can.
Thanks for a great step by step recipe. Looks amazing and tastes great. One recipe afforded me 2 cakes. A 6” and 3” for a friend. I would like to upload my photo but not seeing how to do that.
Yay, Sheryl! So happy this recipe was a hit! You can show me by either tagging @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram or you can email me the photos at sugarandsparrow@gmail.com