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.
This sounds great!
I’m making it tonight!
This looks great, I wish I saw this recipe before. Maybe I’ll just use canned pumpkin.
I made this to take over to my mom’s for a family dinner and everyone just loved it!!! my mom loved it so much she asked me to make it again for a thanksgiving dinner at my aunts (even though i couldn’t be there) and yet again it got rave reviews! thanks for the delicious recipe!
Hi Aimee,
I’ve made this cake several times now and the last time I had run out of whole wheat pastry flour and substituted whole whole wheat. It came out just as good! If you can find that you will be all set. If not I think you would be fine to make a 60:40 mixture of whole wheat and all purpose flours.
Let me know how it comes out!
Thanks, Zoë
I did that post on apples the other day. As you know the recipes had to have been posted in the last week, but I think I’m really going to make this because I have all those apples plus I have leftover pumpkin from my last Tuesdays With Dorie challenge.
I have one question, do you have any suggestions for a substitution for the whole wheat pastry flour. I doubt I’ll be able to find that locally and I’d still like to try and make this. Is there some way to make whole wheat pastry flour using regular whole wheat flour and something else? I know you can create regular pastry flour using a mixture of all purpose flour and cake flour. I was wondering if you can do the same with the whole wheat.
Thanks for the comment and thanks for creating such a great blog! I’ll have to keep checking back here. Good stuff!
WOW!! I can’t wait to try this!!
Wow this looks amazing! And I absolutely adore pumpkin — all kinds of squash, actually, but especially pumpkin puree — so this looks like just my kind of cake!
Hi Tatiana,
Thank you so much for coming back to tell me you made the cake. Isn’t it wonderful!
Enjoy, Zoë
Absolutely delicious! Made it for a dinner party and it was hit. So simple to make and the flavors and texture were perfect. Thanks a keeper recipe!
Ohhhhh! That apple pumpkin cake speaks to me! It’s cold and rainy and I need an excuse to stay in and bake! Steph
Thanks for all the great comments on the cake- it’s an example of my practice of balancing the stronger flavor of whole grain flour with more intense flavors, so that everything gets to shine.
Congrats to the winner of the book!
Hi Zoe,
I just got some pumpkins from my CSA and this is the perfect recipe for them. Love your blog.
I just found this recipe and I can’t wait to try it! It will be perfect for thanksgiving dinner! thanks!
Oooh can’t wait to give this recipe a try! It sounds delicious!
The cake looks amazing..what a great combination, pumpkin and apple. I will definitely try it out.
Oh, this is something I am definately going to try for a friend’s get-together this week. The cookbook looks amazing.
This must be the latest thing, mixing pumpkin and with other untraditional pairings. I’ve heard raves about a pumpkin/chocolate cake. Thanks for the easy to follow directions and photos!
That cake looks divine! I’m trying to make a conscious effort to use more whole grains. The book sounds lovely. Happy New Year Zoe!
Looks delicious…I will have to try!
Oh yes, I would love to win this cookbook. It definitely sounds great.
I just discovered your blog and I’m obsessed. This post is amazing and I can’t wait to read more. You just got me into fall spirit!
That cake looks amazing–and so does the cookbook!
Pumpkin and apple…now, that is definitely a new combination for me…the cake looks great…full of the flavours of fall.
After baking with the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, I have now found a great book for desserts. Can’t wait to get started!
This cake looks great. I’m in the mood for fall cakes since it just snowed yesterday for the first time this year. Can’t wait to try it. The cookbook also looks wonderful.