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Old Fashioned Caramel Apple Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting – vanilla cake made with maple syrup, apple butter, and spiced apple cider. Each fluffy, sweet layer of cake is frosted with a rich, fudgy, chocolate frosting. A sweet and creamy layer of icing is then added with notes of caramel mixed throughout. Sooo much to love here! Every layer has the best apple flavor and just the right amount of chocolate and caramel. Kind of like a caramel apple cake!
I just love an “old fashioned” style dessert. They’re the ones our grandmas would make. Something about an old-school recipe feels a little more special.
And while this cake isn’t probably the most old fashioned one out there, it has some elements to it that make it “old fashioned”.
Regardless, I love it, and it’s the perfect fall apple cake to celebrate the season!
Start with the apple butter cake. I used my favorite butter cake recipe, but replaced the brown sugar with maple, added apple butter, and replaced the buttermilk with my favorite spiced apple cider. Thanks to the apple butter and apple cider there is so much apple flavor shining through.
Start by beating together the wet ingredients: butter, sugar, vanilla, apple butter, and eggs. Then, add the dry: flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Lastly, beat in the apple cider. Then bake away.
While I love my original butter cake recipe, I actually love this cake more. The flavor is so warming, rich, and sweet, but not too sweet. The notes of cinnamon and apple are so nice.
While the cake is cooling, you can start making the chocolate fudge frosting. Now, this really IS old school. It’s simply just melted chocolate chips and sour cream. I also added espresso powder, which really highlights the chocolate.
For having just three ingredients, this is the most magical frosting. Very creamy, rich, and fudgy. And I love that it’s not too sweet.
Spread the frosting over one layer of the cake. Add the top layer, then chill the cake while you make the brown sugar caramel icing.
Butter, brown sugar, and milk, are boiled down into a “caramel” before being whipped with powdered sugar.
When melted down, the brown sugar adds hints of warm molasses and really deepens the flavor to create an icing that’s perfectly rich and caramel-like. And when you add a touch of vanilla – so good. I highly recommend using more icing than you think your cake needs.
Be sure to pour over the icing while it’s still warm, once it cools it will stiffen up.
This last step is optional but so good, the caramel brulée candy. Simply melt granulated sugar on the stove until it turns deep caramel in color, then spread the caramel out over a piece of parchment paper.
Let sit for a few minutes and let the caramel harden. It can then be easily smashed into small shards for sprinkling over the cake.
This cake is delicious. Each bite is filled with sweet spiced apple, chocolate, and caramel. The best kind of autumn cake!
Looking for other fall sweets? Here are a few ideas:
Chocolate Chunk Chai Banana Bread
Chai Spiced Maple Sugar Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting
Cinnamon Sugar Swirled Apple Butter Brea
Apple Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Maple Icing
Lastly, if you make this Old Fashioned Caramel Apple Butter Cake with Chocolate Frosting, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
The cake just didn’t rise much and I had the same outcome as a number of other folks shared here. The flavor of the cake is good as is the flavor of the frostings. I would suggest only making half-batches of both frostings as the recipe as written makes way too much for a single cake. Overall, it’s too sweet for my taste. A couple stars for the idea and the flavor, but I won’t be making this again.
Hi there,
Thanks so much for trying this cake and sharing your feedback. It is definitely on the dense side, to help with that you can add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Thanks again! xTieghan
Every year for my daughter’s birthday she requests a spice cake. We both follow Half Baked Harvest and we both saw this recipe and knew this was the cake to make this year. The maple syrup never fully incorporated into the butter mixture. It was anything but light and fluffy. There was so much liquid to this cake that, I too, ended up with a heavy dense cake, barely rose and also had butter bubbles in the cake. The chocolate/sour cream filling in the middle was just odd. Having said that, the frosting was tasty.The brûlée bits were also yummy. Such a disappointment as the batter tasted good and the aroma while it baked was intoxicating. Seems others had the same issues . I am a very experienced baker with more than 30 years experience . I’m so sorry, but it is probably the worst cake I have ever made. ?
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback. So sorry to hear it was not enjoyed! It is a denser cake, but you could always add 1/2 teaspoon more baking soda to help with that. Happy Birthday to your daughter! xT
Not sure why maple syrup seems to be to go to sweetener vs sugar. Both are sugars. The liquid with the maple seems to be the death knell to “light and fluffy”. Baking = {some} science.
The icing on top of the cake and crunchy caramel bits were so delicious, which is why I added a star.
The concept sounded so enticing, like a chocolate covered caramel apple. And while doesn’t love a good spice cake? The recipe was followed to a T and ended up having the same exact issues others had. The cake batter was really runny and the cakes ended up extremely dense 🙁 I’m not sure if the ingredients in the recipe are wrong or what, but this wasn’t it.
Meant to say *who doesn’t love a spice cake.
Hi Angie,
Thanks so much for trying this cake and sharing your feedback! While it is a denser cake, you can try adding 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and reducing the apple butter to 1/2 cup! I hope this helps! xx
I had the same issue regarding the butter and the maple syrup. They simply would not get “light and fluffy”. My professional Kitchen Aid worked hard and long to try to get the right lightness. My other recipes have all turned out, but this one was a disappointment.
Hey there,
Sorry to hear this! Thanks for trying the cake! You can try adding 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, but it is a denser cake:) xx
I live at 8700 feet, would you make any adjustments for high altitude?
Hi Chelsea,
You can follow the recipe as written! I hope you love this cake, please let me know if you give it a try! xx
Could you make this into cupcakes?
Hi there,
Sure, that will work, I would probably just skip the chocolate frosting part. I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
This recipe looked so good, but I had the same issues as Kesha. My cakes ended up as dense, fudgy disks. So disappointing as I was very excited by the recipe. I followed the recipe and not sure what went wrong. I do love so many of the recipes on this site and was surprised as the outcome of this recipe .
Me too! I made it twice. Maybe it’s suppose to be dense? I think my layers are about 1” tall.
Hi Eileen,
It is definitely a denser cake, but you could try adding 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda next time! xT
Hi Liesel,
So sorry to hear you had some issues with this cake, thanks for making it! This cake is on the denser side, but adding 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and reducing the apple butter to 1/2 cup could help with that! I hope you have a great week! xTieghan
Let me start with, I am a baker. I was once a pastry chef. This recipe did not work for me. My butter would not cream with the maple syrup making the butter lumpy. I had way to much liquid. So my result was a flat dense cake with butter bubbles. I have made so many of your recipes and they are all AMAZING!! This is the first time I have had a problem. And I’m not quite sure what went wrong.
Hi Keesha,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try, so sorry to hear you had some issues! You could reduce the apple butter to 1/2 cup and then add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to help with this, but it is a denser cake. I hope this helps! xT
B.S. If you were a pastry chef, you would have recognized long before your cooking failed that you needed to make adjustments and done so accordingly. No real chef or baker blindly follows a recipe without noticing immediately that something isn’t meshing, and fixing it before the dish is ruined.
If you’re not sure what went wrong, you’re no chef.
This looks so delicious. Is there an alternative frosting I can use instead of chocolate?
Hi Christina,
If you just want to skip the chocolate frosting that would be fine for you to do! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Do you recommend a particular apple butter, or where to buy it?
Hi Lori,
Your local grocery store should carry it, I typically make mine homemade:
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/homemade-slow-cooker-maple-apple-butter/
Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx
Quick question – I am basically a lazy cook. Could I substitute something like Nutella for the chocolate icing in between the layers? Would that be too runny, you think? I guess I could just try it. I have the apple butter but may add some very small chopped apples to the “icing” or batter too. Photo of the cake looks yummy!
Hey Donna,
Sure, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work for you! I hope you love this cake, let me know if you try it out! xT
I may be missing it, but when do you add in the powdered sugar when making the brown sugar icing?
I have the same question, seems like *a lot* of powdered sugar…
Hi David,
The measurements for the powdered sugar are correct:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Tieghan, you still haven’t answered the key question that two people have asked, and I am asking again: when do you add the POWDERED SUGAR for the caramel glaze?
Hi Steve,
It is added in step 5 with vanilla:) Have the best Saturday!! xx
Steve, are you some kind of batshit insane narcissistic control freak? Are you not capable of figuring out the most basic thing yourself?
Back the F off, bro. Seriously. You’re creeping people out.
I have the same question. I assume it’s added to the stand mixer following the vanilla, but I’d definitely like clarification on that before I botch the frosting. 🙂
Yes, it’s added to the mixer with the vanilla:) I hope you love the recipe!
Hi Emily,
You are going to add the brown sugar in step 5. I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xT
You add the brown sugar in step 5, but when do you add the powdered sugar? Says to add vanilla in a stand mixer but nothing about the powdered sugar being added at the same time.
Hi Ashley,
Sorry about that! You will add the powdered sugar with the vanilla to the mixer! I will fix that:)
Lovely.
I cannot eat any ‘brown chocolate’ so will improv with White chocolate. Might add some chopped candied pecans to the top, too. I can imagine the glorious smell coming from the oven when baking.
thanks T 🙂
Thanks so much Leslie!! I hope you love this cake, let me know if you give it a try! xx
This looks awesome, I can’t wait to bake this weekend! Do you think I could make it in a bundt pan?
Thanks Devon. I was thinking of a 9×12 also…as we moved and not found my layer pans yet.
Hey Devon,
You could certainly give it a try, but I would probably skip the chocolate frosting. I hope you love this recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xx
I made it in a bundt and baked it about 60 minutes to 75 minutes. Knife still came out a bit gooey but it was in for way too long. It was almost an undercooked banana bread consistency. Probably could have halved the icing recipe for the bundt. Regardless, I thought it was delicious and my husband took one bite and said “mm-hmm” so I will take that as a good sign!!
Thanks for sharing your feedback Devon! Glad it tasted good:)
This recipe sounds incredible! I’d love to make it, but apple butter is hard to find where I live. Would substituting apple sauce work, or should I have a go at making apple butter from scratch?
Hey Kira,
You could try using a very thick apple sauce and see how that works, otherwise my homemade recipe is pretty easy! I hope you love the cake! Happy Friday! xTieghan