Apple Pumpkin Cinnamon Vanilla Bundt Cake - the best and the easiest Autumn bundt cake you'll ever make. You can optionally drizzle the cake with dulce de leche (or caramel sauce) and top it with chopped pecans, even though the cake is already really delicious. Perfect Fall treat! Great holiday recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
You will fall in love with this apple pumpkin bundt cake and will be making it over and over again! The cake is so moist and fluffy, so very flavorful - it's like having Autumn on your plate! It will make a great addition to your dessert menu for Thanksgiving as an alternative or a companion to a pumpkin pie! As far as I am concerned, this cake is permanently on my menu regardless of holidays!
Even if you don't care much for pumpkin, you'll love this recipe because this cake is not overwhelmed with pumpkin, yet very flavorful. And, it has lots of chopped apples in it. It has the texture and the feel of a very good carrot cake. It won't last long in your house: you'll be eating it for breakfast, mid-day snack, and dessert!
More recipes with apples and pumpkin
I love the apple and pumpkin combination and have quite a few Autumn recipes featuring both apples and pumpkin:
- Pumpkin Banana Bread with Apples
- Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Apples
- Pumpkin Banana Muffins with Apples and Cinnamon
How to store apple pumpkin cake
- Because this cake is so moist, it keeps well on the kitchen counter for several days. I like to loosely cover it with foil and keep it loosely covered like that at room temperature.
- You can also cover the cake with plastic wrap and keep it refrigerated for up to 1 week.
- This cake can be frozen for up to 1 month.
Topping for bundt cake
And don't even get me started on the caramel topping + chopped pecans! So yummy! Homemade or store-bought regular (or salted) caramel sauce will work great! Or, you can also use dulce de leche instead of the caramel sauce. Remember to heat up the caramel sauce in the microwave for several seconds to soften it up so that it's manageable before pouring it over the apple pumpkin bundt cake.
This apple pumpkin cake came out perfectly in a bundt pan: it rises high in the pan as it bakes. And, to be frank, this cake is so good on its own, it does not even need the caramel topping, but why not pour it all over and sprinkle with the cake with chopped pecans, right? 🙂
I would say it again and again: this is an absolutely amazing apple pumpkin bundt cake: moist, light, not dense. It gets only better the next day! I hope you will welcome this gorgeous and delicious Autumn on a plate into your house as well .
Apple Pumpkin Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 cups all-purpose flour , sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 4 cups apples , cored, peeled and diced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium bowl, using electric mixer, beat eggs, white sugar and brown sugar until light in color and creamy, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add oil and vanilla extract and beat for 1-2 minutes more to blend in the ingredients. Add pumpkin puree and continue beating for 1 more minute to combine.
- In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix just until combined. Do not over mix. Fold in the apples.
- Spray the bundt pan with baking spray. Carefully pour the batter into the bundt pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 50 or 60 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for about 40 minutes. Invert the bundt pan onto the serving platter and let the cake to cool further.
Video
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Could these be made into muffins?
Could I use gluten free flower?
Dorothy, yes, you can use gluten-free flour in this recipe. Here are some considerations:
1)
Yes, you can use this kind of gluten-free flour - King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour.
If using gluten-free flour, reduce the baking temperature and increase baking times to avoid a gummy and mushy texture, especially in a "tall" cake like bundt cake. In my experience, it's best to make a gluten-free version of any recipe in a shallower pan, such as a cast iron skillet, a large and shallow rectangular pan, and several shallow (not tall) round cake pans. You stick to the recipe and bake at the same temperatures when using shallower pans. Shallower pans work much better for gluten-free baking in my experience, especially with a moist cake like this pumpkin cake.
2)
I also ran across this helpful comment from another reader on my Facebook page about exactly this cake - you might find it useful, as well:
"I use Bob’s Red Mill. I also add a dollop of sour cream to every cake recipe. I make pound cakes, carrot cakes, banana bread, tres leches cakes, etc. All come out perfect every time and no one even knows they are gluten-free except my family. I follow the recipe as written except for substituting Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 flour and a dollop of sour cream. Same temp, same time for same size pan, etc. I do grease and flour (GF, of course) the bundt pan rather than just spray with the Pam."
What size Bundt pan to use (cup capacity)?
Carey, I used a 10-cup bundt pan. Happy Fall baking! 🙂
Ornia, yes, you can make these into muffins. In this case, reduce the baking times to about 20 or 25 minutes and use a toothpick to check the muffins for doneness.
Can I make this cake using a
9x13 inch pan instead of a Bundt
Pan? Thank you
What size of bundle pan do you use?
Sharon, I used 10-cup bundt pan.
What are the best apples to use for this recipe?
Nancy, I would use apples with a firmer texture and sweeter flavor. Fuji, Gala, Honey Crisp would be good choices.
Can't find pumpkin puree in my store. Can I use plain pumpkin?
Janice, yes, of course, you can use cooked plain pumpkin.
Leeann, yes, you can use a 9x13-inch pan. I would probably reduce the baking times since the rectangular pan is shallower than the bundt pan.
Well! I must say this recipe is amazing! I also had an over abundance of fresh pears….oh my stars! I used the mini Bundt pans and wrapped each ONE IN WAXED PAPER INSIDE OF A GALLON SIZED FREEZER ZIPLOC AND THEN FROZE THE BATCH IN THE FREEZER. I JUST POP THEM OUT A FEW HOURS AHEAD TO THAW OUT AND THEN KILL THEM WITH CARAMEL SAUCE AND TOASTED PECANS! Sorry. Too lazy to go back and retype the all caps portion….
How long did you bake the mini bundts?
Jane, if using mini bundts, I would bake them for 20 or 25 minutes but use a toothpick to check for doneness.
Angella, I love your enthusiastic comment - comments like this make my day so much better! 🙂 What a smart way to freeze this cake - by baking it into mini bundts and then freezing the mini bundts. Very practical and these little cakes come out much prettier out of the freezer than just frozen slices of a large bundt cake.
This looks amazing. But I need to change the sugar, to a lower one.
Now, do you think I can do half flower and half whole wheat.
Or something else to make the carbs lower. I have family issues.
I don’t want almond flower.
I want to serve this beautiful cake for Thanksgiving to my California family as mom, grandma lives in Oregon.
Mary, you can definitely use half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat. This cake is so moist you don't even need to make any adjustments when making this change. I hope you love it!
I just made this and it's delicious! Moist with great flavor. I made cinnamon whipped cream to top the slices with, perfect! Definitely a keeper. Thank you for the recipe.
Tawnia, you are very welcome! I am glad you tried this recipe and that it was a success! Love that you topped the cake slices with cinnamon whipped cream - sounds so good!
Looks great. But what is the drizzle/frosting I see in the pictures?
Kathy, this was homemade dulce de leche that I made by boiling down sweetened condensed milk for a couple of hours.
I can’t always find pumpkin puree so can I substitute for regular pumpkin pie mixture ?
Thanks
Audrey, I am not sure if the pumpkin pie mixture would work here.
Just had a piece with my hubby and we both love it! I will be making it again! Feels like Fall! Looked just like the photos!
Alice, I am so happy this recipe was a success! Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Can this be made in an instant pot?
Carolyn, I never tried it in an instant pot.
I made this cake this morning (12/4/21). I'll admit I was worried that my Christmas Tree Bundt pan wasn't big enough and I was going to a mess on my hands. Boy was I wrong. It worked fabulous, popped right of the pan after cooling about 45 minutes and looks great. Next time, I may shred the apples as others have suggested because apple lumps/bumps on the Christmas Trees is a little more rustic than I was going for! Can't wait to eat this!
Monica, your comment made my day and made me smile (when I read about apple lumps on the Christmas Tree shaped bundt cake) at the same time! Glad you liked the recipe - and thank you for taking the time to share such a positive comment! Yes, shredded apples is a great idea for more sophisticated shapes of bundt pans than the one I used in this recipe!
I had some left over homemade pumpkin purree and wanted to try a new recipe. I also had quite a few apples in my fridge that my 2 year old had started eating over the last couple of days but she tends to be full up after 3-5 bites...
So I typed 'pumpkin and apple cake' into my search engine and came across your recipe and it sounded right up my street. I'm so so glad I made this cake today because my entire family absolutely loved and devoured it.
I made only a couple of changes, I used half a tbs cinnamon and half a tbs of my homemade pumpkin spice then I grated the apples because I know how funny my kids can be with unexpected textures and I also added a tbs of spiced rum. This recipe goes straight into my favourites file and I see myself baking it many a times. Thank you so much for sharing <3
Bee, your comment made my day! 🙂 And, WOW, thank you for taking the time to share such detailed feedback that is so helpful to me and other readers. What a great idea to shred the apples - it would work great for more sophisticated bundt pan shapes than the one I use here.