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Caramel Apple Spice Cake

Caramel apple spice cake is a deeply spiced, tender golden layer cake with diced apples, baked until springy and fragrant. Cream cheese frosting is whipped fluffy and finished with caramel drizzle and toffee bits for a bakery-style look.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Calories: 430
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For spice cake
  • 2.5 cup flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 0.5 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp allspice
  • 0.5 tsp cloves
  • 0.5 tsp nutmeg
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1.5 cup brown sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 cup apples finely diced
For caramel cream cheese frosting
  • 16 oz cream cheese
  • 0.5 cup butter
  • 0.33 cup caramel sauce
  • 4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
For decoration
  • 1 toffee bits extra, for topping
  • 1 caramel sauce extra, for drizzle

Equipment

  • 2 sheet pan
  • 1 stand mixer

Method
 

Bake the spice cake layers
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch pans and set aside.
  2. Add butter and brown sugar to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth and lighter in color.
  3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla.
  4. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and salt.
  5. Alternate adding the dry mixture and sour cream to the batter, mixing just until incorporated.
  6. Fold in the finely diced apples so they’re evenly distributed throughout the batter.
  7. Divide batter evenly between the two prepared pans.
  8. Bake for 50-55 minutes at 350F, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
  9. Cool cakes completely in their pans before frosting.
Make frosting and assemble
  1. Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
  2. Beat in caramel sauce and vanilla until combined.
  3. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until fluffy and thick enough to spread.
  4. Remove cakes from pans and frost the layers and the outside of the cake.
  5. Drizzle extra caramel sauce over the top. Scatter toffee bits over the caramel before serving.

Notes

Pro tip: cool the cakes fully before frosting so the cream cheese frosting won’t loosen or slide. Store covered in the refrigerator up to 4 days; freeze unfrosted cake layers up to 2 months (wrap well). For a reduced-sugar option, use a caramel sauce and powdered sugar substitute that measures cup-for-cup.