Well, for a while there we were on the hunt for the best, most autumnal dessert that would embrace our favorite fall flavors and perfectly blend our love of crisp apples with deliciously spiced cake. We’re obsessed with this cake! So what’s going on here is sweet, sticky, caramelized apples that soak up all the flavor and make up the base of the cake, which is amazing since we use applesauce to work with the vegetable oil to keep things flavorful and exceedingly moist. This is a caramel apple-stuffed cake to end your meal with a bang! (Or start your day the right way – your choice.)

There are two main stages to this dessert, with an easy third one tacked on at the end: apples, cake and glaze. You want to prep your apples – dice ‘em up nice and small – and then sprinkle them with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and lemon juice, so they don’t brown. You’ll want to give them some time to sit and soak in all the flavors, so you can prep your cake next. All the usual cake suspects are in here, with the addition of applesauce. We use applesauce instead of butter, sour cream or Greek yogurt to ensure this cake never gets dry, and boy do we love its presence!

Once your cake is baked and cooled, flip it out of the bundt pan and then throw together a simple, cinnamon apple cider glaze. That boy boy gets drizzled on top of the cake – which, by the way, you can serve right side up or upside down, whatever works for you! – and then you just need to give it a couple minutes to set. And that’s it, you’re in business! We could easily devour this cake at any time of year, but there’s something so special about making it in the fall that makes us really appreciate the season and gets us excited for cooler temperatures and the holidays to come. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!