Caramel Apple Snack Cake

Caramel apple snack cake is a delicious treat. If you love caramel apples this recipe has your name all over it! This moist spice cake is chock-full of apples and covered in the most ridiculously yummy caramel frosting. You don’t need to wait for apple season. This cake is a great way to enjoy fall all year long!

Why you have to make this cake!

Caramel and apples go together like popcorn and a movie!  They are fine alone but together they are perfect and your fingers get messy too.  Caramel apple cake is a delicious treat. Sometimes a 9×13 cake can be too much unless you are bringing it somewhere or splitting it up to share with neighbors. This cake is full of apples, and warm spices and covered with a very lovely caramel frosting that is about as close to heaven as frosting can get. I love to make this cake if friends are coming over for coffee, or if we are having overnight guests. It is perfect with morning coffee, or afternoon coffee, or if you just need a little something sweet.

Gather these ingredients

How to make caramel apple snack cake.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8×8 cake pan with butter, cooking spray, or crisco. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper to fit the pan. The paper should hang over the edge just enough so that the cake can be lifted out of the pan by pulling up on the paper.
2. Combine flour with cornstarch, baking powder, salt, apple pie spice and sift into a medium sized mixing bowl.
3. Peel and core apples and cut them into small cubes. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl add oil and brown sugar whisk until smooth. Add in eggs + yolk and vanilla whisk for a minute or so until smooth and fluffy. (This step can also be done with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer if you prefer.)
5. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix with a spatula scraping down sides of the bowl also making sure to get the bottom of the bowl as you mix. Fold in apples. The cake batter is thick. Spoon into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Cool cake on a wire rack.
6. While the cake is cooling, make frosting. Add butter to a medium sized saucepan over medium low heat, when butter is melted add brown sugar and whisk until smooth and in half and half. Bring to a low boil and cook for 2 minutes stirring continually. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and powdered sugar.
7. Lift cake from the pan place on to a platter, and pour caramel frosting on the top of the cake, smoothing it with a spatula and letting it drip down the sides. If you rather you can leave this in the pan and pour frosting over cake. Cut into 9 2 1/2 inch squares or 12 2 inch squares.

This caramel frosting is quite literally my favorite thing on earth. I could take a bath in it. If you’re a caramel lover you are going to freak out over this frosting. My mom used to make me graham cracker and chocolate frosting sandwiches. I think this frosting would be fantastic in a graham cracker sandwich situation.

 Caramel apple snack cake is perfect served at room temperature making it the perfect cake for snacking. Be sure to store leftovers (if you have them) in an airtight container or cover tightly with plastic wrap for best results.

Tip & Substitutions

• If it bothers you when apples start to brown, toss apples in a teaspoon of lemon juice and this will keep them from browning and will not affect the recipe at all.
• If you do not have half and half on hand, not a problem you can use whole milk, heavy cream, or regular milk for the frosting. Dairy products with more fat content gives you a creamier frosting, however any of these will work.
• What kind of apples should you use? Any tart apple works well. Granny smith apples are probably the easiest to find, however honey crisp apples, braeburn, cortland, and jonagold and crispin apples are also great baking apples.
• Spices: If you do not have apple pie spice, have no fear! Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger are an easy substitute. See recipe card for the specific measurements.

This is a Crispin apple, its crisp, sweet, huge, and tart.  Perfect for baking!

A few facts about Michigan Apples.  Did you know that there are more than 17 million apple trees in commercial production covering 38,000 acres on 850 family run farms. The climate is perfect for fruit trees, just far enough from Lake Michigan and the perfect elevation. I grew up with many families that owned large fruit farms. These are some hard working people, let me tell you! Our cottage is an hour north of where we live outside of Grand Rapids and along the way we pass miles and miles of apple, pear, peach, and cherry trees. As far as the eye can see, miles and miles of rolling hills of fruit trees. It is an absolute wonder. So beautiful when all the trees are blossoming in the Spring and then hanging heavy with fruit at the end of the Summer.   I heart the area of Michigan I live in!

Don’t wait for the fall season to make this cake, it can be enjoyed all year long! If you make this recipe and love it please give it some stars below! Pin it and share it on your socials, I would be so very thankful! Very thankful that you have chosen to use my site. XO Sheila