This apple pumpkin cake is a perfect fall recipe. It combines two favorite flavors into one moist, delicious cake.
This apple pumpkin cake is from Robin Asbell’s latest book on Whole Grains
I have had such a wonderful time cooking and baking through Robin’s book, The New Whole Grain Cookbook: Terrific Recipes Using Farro, Quinoa, Brown Rice, Barley, and Many Other Delicious and Nutritious Grains
In Robin’s recipe she calls for canned pumpkin so you can make this cake any time of the year, but since it is pie pumpkin season I decided to use puree from a pumpkin I roasted. The apples are aplenty right now as well so I chose some that are local. You can mix and match baking apples such as Macintosh, Cortland, Haralson and/or Granny Smith. I have yet to get to an orchard to pick my own apples. But, I had the great fortune of receiving a bag of apples from my friend Jen’s father, who picked the fruit from a tree in his backyard. They are tart, but sweet and have a pink tint to their flesh. Absolutely gorgeous! I mixed them with some Granny Smith, as Robin recommends in her recipe.
Apple Pumpkin Cake Ingredients
- Apples: Granny Smith apples give this cake a wonderful tart flavor.
- Pumpkin Streusel: The streusel topping features pureed pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to give this cake the wonderful pumpkin flavor.
- Apple Chips: These give the cake more apple flavor and add a layer of crisp flavor.
How to Make Apple Pumpkin Cake
Check out the full recipe at the bottom of this post.
To start:
Butter and flour (I forgot the flour and it was just fine!) an 8-Inch Springform Pan
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Saute the apples in the butter on medium heat, just until they start to soften. Remove from heat and add the sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a stand mixer combine the flour, brown sugar and salt. Add the 1/2 cup butter and blend well.
Measure out 2/3 cup of the mixture into a separate bowl to make the streusel. Add the 3 tablespoons sugar and pumpkin spices to this separate bowl, blend and set aside.
Add the baking soda, pumpkin, sour cream and eggs to the flour mixture left remaining in your mixer.
Blend until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Layer the cake batter, then the sauteed apples and finally sprinkle the streusel over the top.
Bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour. Allow to cool in the pan and then remove the springform. Serve with Vanilla ice cream and an apple chip.
To make the apple chips. dip the apple slices in the simple syrup. Drain the excess syrup off and lay them flat on a Silpat Nonstick Silicone Baking Mat
**For those of you who may want a parve caramel apple cake for their Rosh Hashanah dinner they can either adapt this recipe or use the recipe I have that has no dairy. For those just looking for an incredible cake to make use of all those amazing apples and a roasted pumpkin this is the one for you!
Ingredients
Sautéed Apples
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 4 large Granny Smith apples peeled and thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Streusel Topping and Cake
- 1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
Apple Chips
- 1 apple very thinly sliced on a Mandoline slicer
- 1/2 cup simple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour (I forgot the flour and it was just fine!) an 8-inch springform pan.
Sautéed Apples
- Saute the apples in the butter on medium heat, just until they start to soften. Remove from heat and add the sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
Cake
- In a stand mixer combine the flour, brown sugar and salt. Add the 1/2 cup butter and blend well.
- Measure out 2/3 cup of the mixture into a separate bowl to make the streusel. Add the 3 tablespoons sugar and pumpkin spices to this separate bowl, blend and set aside.
- Add the baking soda, pumpkin, sour cream and eggs to the flour mixture left remaining in your mixer. Blend until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Layer the cake batter, then the sautéed apples and finally sprinkle the streusel over the top.
- Bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour. Allow to cool in the pan and then remove the springform. Serve with Vanilla ice cream and an apple chip.
Apple Chips
- Dip the apple slices in the simple syrup. Drain the excess syrup off and lay them flat on a Silpat Nonstick Silicone Baking Mat. Turn off the oven from the cake and put the sheet of apples in the hot, but turned off oven. Allow the apples to dry out for about an hour before opening the door.
Wow! What a lovely cake recipe, and we just went to an apple orchard too!Thanks, Carrie
The cake looks amazing.
Thank you – the blueberry honey cake looks fabulous too! Now I have 3 cakes to try before I start my diet – lol!
Happy New Year to you, too!Dianne
Hi Lady Di,
Yes the caramel cake is amazing too and you can substitute either margarine or earth balance for the butter to make it parve.
Whole wheat pastry flour has less protein so it ends up with a lighter texture. I ran low on the second cake I made and ended up using mostly white whole wheat flour and it was still fantastic!
I have a great honey cake but it has butter. You could again use the earth balance butter substitute in its place. http://zoebakescom.bigscoots-staging.com/?p=674
Happy New Year! Enjoy. Zoë
One more question – is there a big difference between whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour? Can one be substituted for the other?
pumpkin AND whole grains? i love autumn and its bounty–
think i may try this recipe for my Thanksgiving spread with homemade cinnamon whipped cream, thanks, Z!
You mentioned a parve caramel apple cake for Rosh Hashanah dinner – are you referring to your caramel apple cake but without the caramel glaze, which has butter?
Also – can you suggest a good honey cake for Rosh Hashanah?
I love this book, and the recipe is delicious!
wow. this looks amazing. THIS is my why i love fall.
I’ve been looking for good whole grain recipes for the Fall — this will do the trick nicely!
I’m making the cake this weekend!
This miserable baker would love that cake! A fantastic cookbook would make up me missing the cake.
I hope this will be the antidote to my Martha Stewart apple cake fiasco! 😉
That sounds like one incredible pie- for some reason, I never thought to combine apple and pumpkin before!
Thanks Zoe and Robin!
Hi Kate,
Yes, I think they would be perfect for this cake.
Enjoy, Zoë
Do you think Gravensteins would work in this cake? I’m baking my way through a box of them and this recipe looks like the perfect way to help use some of those apples up. I love using whole wheat flour…it makes my pie crusts taste a little like cookies.
What a lovely cake! It looks out of this world! With apples, pumpkin and those spices, it would be perfect for any Fall gathering.
Looks delicious! We eat a lot of canned pumpkin around here.
Hello, everyone, thanks for all the kind words.
I weighed a cup of whole wheat pastry and it was 4.5 ounces. I probably tend to go heavy, since I use (Shirley Corriher’s recommended) scoop and level method, rather than sifting. It’s her assertion that nobody sifts before measuring, so we should all get on board and just scoop, so our readers will have the same results.
I hope that is helpful.
I’m always looking for inspiration to using a variety of grains in cooking. This looks like just the book for me. Thanks for the opportunity!
I like the looks of this cake and it gives me another thing to make with my apples
Hi OCD,
She has a chart at the back of the book that translate from US to metric. It looks like it is mostly for liquids, not flour.
I got 4 1/2 ounces per 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
I’ll email her and ask if that matches her measurement.
Thanks! Zoë
Zoe,
This cake looks awesome! Great job on the pictures. Can’t wait to try it this weekend:)
Julie
This looks amazing! But, I have to ask—do you know Robyn’s weights for flours?
Thanks!
OMG! Robin’s book is the best thing since sliced bread. Whole grains don’t need to taste like cardboard anymore. I served recipes from her book at a party I had last Sunday and people were raving. They had never heard of Quinoa. Honestly, you don’t miss meat with the recipes in this book.