This ultra-lush, sweet Chunky Apple Walnut Cake recipe is loaded with fresh apples, toasted walnuts and cinnamon flavor in every bite!
You can opt to eat it without the frosting, but this smooth and creamy maple cream cheese frosting may just change your mind, because it's a great frosting for all of your fall desserts.
If you have leftover apples, this cake recipe is perfect for putting those apples to good use. These Apple Crisp Cheesecake Bars and these Easy No Yeast Apple Cinnamon Rolls are also great apple desserts you'll love!
Why I LOVE this Apple Walnut Cake Recipe!
- Firstly, I just love the simplicity of this recipe. The most time-consuming thing is, peeling the apples and chopping them up into chunks, but that literally takes a few minutes. The rest is easy-peasy.
- The fresh apples, cinnamon and walnuts are quite delicious together in this cake! It's no wonder it's a winner!
- And hello, this maple buttercream frosting is the best-ever! All maple and apple desserts go together and it's a fall favorite!
- You can serve it for breakfast or brunch and even bake it in a bundt pan for 1 hour and 30 minutes as well as serve it as a dessert!
- But, just so you know, this cake is so luscious, you can eat it with or without frosting. Either way, you're not going to turn this outstanding apple cake down!
What Apples Should I Use?
The key to a great apple dessert is to use a diverse variety of apples for a mix of textures and flavors: sweet, tart, crisp, and soft. So any baking apples will work great for this apple cake! Using apples like Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady and Golden Delicious are excellent choices.
You'll also want to chop the apples into chunks, but not too large, so they cook through while baking. I love to use Granny Smith apples, because they are sweet, tart and amazing! Like in this Awesome Country Apple Fritter Bread!
Ingredients You Need
- all purpose flour
- baking soda
- ground cinnamon
- salt
- Granny Smith apples, diced
- lightly toasted walnuts, chopped
- vanilla extract
- granulated sugar
- vegetable or canola oil
- eggs
How to Make Fresh Chunky Apple Walnut Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 °F. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, set aside.
- Using an electric mixer beat the sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl.
- Add in the vanilla and then the dry ingredients and beat until completely combined.
- Fold in the apples and walnuts without overmixing batter, but make sure everything is distributed evenly. The batter will be thick.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-70 minutes or until a tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to fully cool in the pan.
- Serve cake with or without frosting. Maple Cream Cheese Frosting is in the recipe below.
Storing Apple Cake
- The cake can be wrapped tightly and stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
What Else Can You Serve With Apple Cake?
- Serve this apple cake recipe a la mode with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!
- You could also switch it up with different ice cream flavors such as butter pecan, caramel or cinnamon.
- A light dusting of powdered sugar on top would be lovely when you serve with coffee or tea!
- Serve it warm with a dollop of whipped cream infused with some bourbon or maple extract.
If you love this apple cake recipe, check out more of our easy apple desserts for fall. We're on a roll!
Craving More?
- Farmhouse Apple Walnut Loaf
- 25 Best Apple-icious Desserts That'll Tempt You
- Sour Cream Banana Bread
- German Spiced Apple Cake
- Brownie Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies - Vegan & GF Options too!
- Banana Strawberry Walnut Bread
- Soft Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
- Maple Apple Pecan Bread
Chunky Apple Walnut Cake
Ingredients
Easy Fresh Apple Cake
- 3 ½ cups Granny Smith apples, diced about 3 apples
- 1 cup lightly toasted walnuts chopped
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ⅔ cups sugar
- 1 ¼ cups vegetable oil
- 3 eggs
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese completely softened at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons butter softened to room temperature
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
How to Make Apple Cake
- Preheat the oven to 325 °F. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, set aside.
- Using an electric mixer beat the sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl.
- Add in the vanilla and then the dry ingredients and beat until completely combined.
- Fold in the apples and walnuts without overmixing batter, but make sure everything is distributed evenly. The batter will be thick.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-70 minutes or until a tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to fully cool in the pan.
- Serve cake with or without frosting. Maple Cream Cheese Frosting is in the recipe below.
How to Make Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
- Using mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter for 3-5 minutes, until light and fluffy.
- Add the salt and half of the powdered sugar to the cream cheese mixture. Beat for 2 minutes then add the remaining powdered sugar and mix for 2-3 more minutes.
- Add the maple extract to the frosting and beat for another 2 minutes.
- Spread or pipe frosting. Store in the fridge for up to 7 days, let come to room temperature and mix before using.
- If you want a thicker frosting that holds its shape more when piping, add more confectioners sugar until you reach the desired consistency.
Recipe slightly adapted from Fresh Apple Cake - Paula Dean
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