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.
Autumn by the slice…
Absolutely delicious….
Thank you for sharing this recipe…
I’m sure this cookbook as other wonderful recipes…
Absolutely delicious…. Thank you for sharing this recipe…
Just made this cake last night! So easy and was DELISH! I’m thinking of making it again..because it’s already all gone! 🙁
Hi Zoe,
What a great, great, great cake. We live on an apple farm and also grow pumpkins – this time of year we have so much of both that I am always looking for recipes. This cake turned out SOOOOO good that I am going to make it for all the holiday gatherings. (It may just become my “signature” contribution to every potluck I go to). Thank you so much!
Zoe, let me say first of all that I loved the red velvet cake recipe. I made the cake with a homemade cream cheese icing and a basic decorating job — I aspire to be able to make fancy decorations like yours, but I’m still learning. 😛 I successfully halved it because I was making it for Vday and it was just the two of us, and we loved it! Thank you for sharing it with us!
Anyway, I’m going to make this for a friend next weekend. I have two questions:
1) I have a food processing with a thin (4 mm) and a thick (6 mm) slicing disk. Do you think that would be sufficient substitute for a mandoline slicer? I looked at the one you recommended, and it looks cool, but scary sharp. I’m afraid of cutting myself on it.
2) I went to Fry’s (Kroger) to look for pumpkin puree and they haven’t had any since Thanksgiving. I’ll look around, but if I had to make a substitute, what would you suggest?
Thank you for your help! I love your site — I want to make at least one thing from it every month, starting with all of the “Basics” articles. 🙂 And I love your bread cookbook too, my family adore the master recipe. 🙂
btw, last October my son HAD to have this for his 3rd birthday. We made it, apple chips included. He lOVED it. We’ve also been baking w/ the HBin5 group. Made some of the chard bread (one you posted last summer) the other day and added shredded carrots and cheddar cheese in a cinnamon roll style bun. Party buns we called them b/c they looked so festive. Thanks for all the wonderful food you bring to our family!
Hi Bridgit,
Wow, your bread sounds amazing! I’m thrilled that you are baking in the HBin5 group, sounds like so much fun.
Your son has amazing taste in cakes, I love it! 🙂
Thanks, Zoë
Hi Jojo,
Not at all, I’m so thrilled that you enjoyed it! Thanks for writing to let me know! 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving! Zoë
zoe, I made this cake tonight. It is amazing, and I have guest over right now enjoying it as I write this. Do you mind if I put this link on my blog? I must share this recipe! So wonderful and tastes like fall.
Hi Zoe! I made this apple pumpkin cake and featured it on my blog. I made sure to link back to your post for the recipe. It was a wonderful cake! Thank you so much for sharing it!
Hi Zoe, the cake is perfect. Family and friends, we all like it. Thanks a lot for the recipe and your marvelous website.
That cake came out beautifully. The mandolin makes a difference.
This cake is amazing! Made it yesterday–filled the house with the most heavenly aroma! My only comment is that the apples gave off so much liquid, that I had to bake it longer than the hour called for, but once it was done, pure delight–this is what fall cooking is all about!!
I needed a great fall dessert for a party I’m going to and this looks like the right choice.
I love the apple chips idea not only for the dessert but I will also add them to my fall salad.
Mixed greens, pecans, cranberries and some goat cheese
Yum!
I can’t wait to make this for my niece’s birthday next week…she loves anything pumpkin.
Zoe as always you never fail to impress, thanks for the advice and I’ll let you know how it all turns out.
Hi Nick,
Where, oh where did you find rhubarb this time of year? Did you think to freeze it? I always say I’m going to and then end up using it all. I never think to put rhubarb and apples together because they are rarely available at the same time, but I bet they would be lovely together. I think the cake is plenty sweet enough to handle it. If the rhubarb is from later in the season, you may need to cook it for a moment to soften it. If it was from early in the summer it may be tender enough to bake straight. Frozen rhubarb tends to break up anyway so cooking it may not be at all necessary! Do tell me how it goes!
Thanks, Zoë
Zoe, going to bake this up this weekend and can’t wait, the apples are so good right now that it’s a must (though I probably will be using canned pumpkin, lame). In your pictures the top looks kinda purplish and though I realize that is probably just the lighting, I was wondering if the addition of rhubarb would just follow along the same lines of softening the apples with cooking it and if it would add some good color to the top? Any suggestions?
Your cake is really lovely. Thanks for sharing the recipe and the cookbook. I’ve written a post about this cake and linked back to you. Many thanks!
Mmm. I’m definitely going to try this. Pumpkins and apples are my favorites.
I love love baking with whole grains and this cake is really wonderful. I plan to bake one gain in a couple of weeks for my son’s visit. Thanks for the great recipe.
Wow – I’ve looked at three of your posts and had to add a link to my links page so that I don’t forget to come back! Looking forward to the fall when I’ll get apples in my CSA box again and can try this one out. Looks delish.
I made this for my brother’s birthday. he hates fruit but loved it.
Hi Candace,
So glad you tried this cake, I just love it too!
Zoë
This is the yummiest cake I have ever made ( and I’ve made aloooot of cakes!) It is dense and smooth and spicy and the very definition of “fall comfort food”. Thank you Zoe!