Almond Apple Cake

This single-layer Almond Apple Cake is a rich, moist almond cake with a luscious, buttery brown sugar apple topping! This simple-to-make yet impressive and satisfying cake is the perfect fall dessert is very no-frills, with tons of flavor.

If you loved our Swedish almond cake with almond flour, you'll definitely love this almond apple cake! This recipe has a very similar base cake that we made some slight alterations to for autumn.

Instead of the caramelized almond topping, we gave this recipe an almost American-style apple-pie-like topping with brown sugar, butter, and a little more almond extract! 🤤

This cake is incredibly moist and tender thanks to the almond flour, with warm notes of cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla, and a little bit of almond extract too! It's amazing, and we know you're going to love this one!

Looking for more delicious apple recipes? Try our apple crisp cheesecake, these apple cider cookies, or these delicious apple cider slushies!

❤️Why We Love This Recipe

• Inviting, warm fall flavors. A buttery, rich, and tender almond cake that's lightly spiced with cinnamon, then topped with a gooey, buttery brown sugar cinnamon apple topping? What's not to love?! Each component has a hint of almond extract too for something extra special!
• Approachable recipe for beginner bakers. This cake is straightforward to make if you're intimidated by baking. Our step-by-step instructions will guide you through with confidence. Don't worry about leveling a cake, or making and frosting multiple layers. This single-layer cake with a sticky sweet apple topping is perfect!
• Made with simple ingredients. There are only a few staple ingredients needed for this recipe, and you probably have most of them on hand. Anything you don't have, you can get at any grocery store.

🍎Ingredients

Here are the ingredients we used for this recipe. You can find more information for substitutions below.

• Almond flour. This results in an incredibly moist cake with a super tender crumb. We love Bob's Red Mill because it's finely ground.
• Butter. We recommend using unsalted butter.
• Cornstarch. We make a cornstarch slurry with water to thicken the apple topping.
• Apples. Use any apple you like. We love using honey crisp! You can leave the peels on or off, and we opted to peel the apples this time for an extra soft bite.

Visit the recipe card for the full quantities and nutritional information.

✨Substitutions & Variations

Here are a few suggestions on additional flavors to try, or simple variations to this recipe.

• Gluten-free. To make this recipe gluten-free (it should work well!!) swap the all-purpose flour for your favorite 1:1 gluten free flour. We like Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour.
• Add more spices. You could add spices like cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, pumpkin spice, or apple pie spice to this cake to make it extra delicious.
• Add a hint of citrus. Some orange zest would complement this cake wonderfully, feel free to rub some into the brown sugar if you like!
• Dairy-free. Simply swap the butter for your favorite dairy-free butter!
• Use brown butter. For extra depth of flavor, try browning the butter for even more flavor in this delicious cake!

This recipe hasn't been tested with any other substitutions or variations, so we can't guarantee any results. If you make a change, let us know how it goes in the comments below!

🔪Prep Work

• Let eggs sit out at room temperature, or place them in a bowl of warm water for about 10 minutes to let them warm up quickly.
• Peel and chop apples into small pieces.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Grease and line a 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper.
• Measure out the rest of the ingredients using a food scale. 

Cream the butter and sugar

In a large mixing bowl, cream the brown sugar and melted butter until smooth. (Image 1)

Add the eggs

Pour in the eggs one by one into the batter, (Image 2) mixing until completely combined and smooth.

Add the vanilla extract and almond extract, and combine again. Make sure everything is completely incorporated. (Image 3)

⭑Pro tip: Adding the eggs one by one instead of all at once will help make sure they get fully incorporated into the batter and will help your cake be nice, light, and fluffy with a tender crumb.

Mix the dry ingredients

In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond flour, all purpose flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and kosher salt, and make sure there are no lumps or clumps. (Image 4)

⭑Pro tip: We always recommend using a digital food scale for precise results when measuring flour. Too much flour can make the cake dense and dry.

Combine ingredients

Combine the wet and dry ingredients. (Image 5)

Mix gently until everything is incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure everything gets in the mixture. Be careful not to overmix.

Add the cake batter to the greased and prepared cake tin and use a rubber spatula to spread out the batter evenly. (Image 6) We also like to bang the pan on the counter a few times to bring air bubbles to the surface before baking.

*Pro tip: Once the dry ingredients are added, you want to make sure to fold until combined, but not beyond that, or else you risk overactivating the gluten in the flour and making the cake dense and tough.

Bake

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the edges of the cake are golden brown and beginning to pull away from the pan. (Image 7)

The cake should spring back a little bit when touched, and a toothpick inserted into the center should come out with a few moist crumbs still attached.

Set aside to cool.

Make the apple topping

While the cake bakes, prepare the apple topping.

Add the apple pieces to a Dutch oven or saucepan with butter, salt, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Simmer the mixture to melt the butter, stirring often to dissolve the sugar, and allow the mixture to thicken and coat the apples. (Image 8)

When the apples have softened to your liking after about 4-5 minutes, stir in the cornstarch slurry to thicken and continue stirring. Remove from the heat, and stir in the almond extract. (Image 9) The apples will thicken as they cool.

Now, add the apple topping over top of the cake, cut in, and enjoy!

⭑Pro tip: Serve while warm! This cake is delicious all the time, but hard to beat when everything is nice and warm!

✨Top Tips

• Measure accurately. Not only will this save you dishes, but it also helps ensure accurate results! Too much flour in a cake can lead to a dense, dry cake!
• Make sure your melted butter isn’t too hot. Warm butter helps dissolve the sugar, but hot butter can make the cake greasy and disrupt emulsification.
• Don’t skip mixing the butter and sugar. This process incorporates air, dissolves sugar, and increases volume, yielding a lighter cake with a tender crumb. Don't worry if it doesn't come together completely right away, it will incorporate eventually once the eggs are added.
• Incorporate eggs individually. This ensures proper integration into the cake batter. If you add all the eggs at once, you might end up with a dense cake that doesn't bake correctly.
• Don't overmix the dry ingredients. Avoid overmixing dry ingredients. Once the flour is added, mix just until the ingredients are combined. This ensures a tender, fluffy cake rather than a tough, dense one.