Apple Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Beat the butter with the brown and cane sugars until fluffy and mix in the eggs. Whisk the flours, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, then add them to the batter in thirds, alternating with ½ cup of the apple butter each time. Spread the batter into two parchment-lined pans and bake at 350° until a tester comes out clean. Beat confectioners’ sugar with the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla, frost the cooled, stacked cakes, and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
Apple butter is one of those quiet pantry treasures that turns an ordinary cake into something that tastes of the season itself. Stirred into the batter, it lends a deep, spiced sweetness and a moisture that keeps every slice tender for days. Topped with a swirl of tangy cream cheese frosting, this cake strikes the perfect autumn balance — comforting enough for a Sunday kitchen, lovely enough to set before company on a cool afternoon.
Building the Spiced Cake Crumb
Cream the butter and sugar until light, then mix in the apple butter, alternating it with the flour, so its spiced sweetness runs all through the batter. It is the apple butter that gives this cake both its flavor and its lasting tenderness, so use a generous, well-spiced one and mix just until everything comes together smoothly.
The Tangy Cream Cheese Finish
Whip the cream cheese frosting until it is silky and just holds a swirl, its gentle tang the perfect foil to the sweet, spiced cake beneath. Wait until the cake is fully cool before you frost, then swirl it on generously — a rustic, unfussy top suits this homey cake best.
Apple Butter Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Coat two 9 x 9-inch (you can certainly change the size of the pan if you choose) cake pans with vegetable oil spray.
- Place a layer of parchment paper in the bottom of each pan and coat the paper.
- Whisk together the flours, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
- Use an electric mixer to combine 1 cup butter with brown and cane sugars until fluffy.
- Mix in the eggs.
- Pour in ⅓ of the flour mixture followed by ½ cup of the apple butter.
- Mix well and continue alternating ingredients until all the flour and apple butter are mixed into the batter.
- Spread the batter into the two pans.
- Bake until a tester inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
- Cool the cakes in the pan for 10 minutes.
- Carefully invert the cakes onto a rack. Remove the parchment paper and cool the cakes completely.
- Use an electric mixer to combine confectioners’ sugar with the cream cheese, ½ cup butter and the vanilla until smooth and creamy.
- You can mix in a teaspoon or two of milk to get the consistency that you prefer for frosting. Place one cake onto your serving platter.
- Slather the cake with frosting.
- Top with the remaining cake. Cover the sides and top of the cake with the remaining frosting.
- Sprinkle the top of the cake with chopped walnuts.
The Heart of the Table
An apple cake on the counter is an open invitation — it says the kitchen is warm and there is always a slice for whoever stops by. There is deep, seasonal hospitality in a cake like this, the kind that fills a house with the smell of spice and makes everyone feel they have arrived somewhere cared for.
The Art of the Host
Let the cake cool completely before frosting so the cream cheese stays firm rather than sliding, and keep any leftovers cold. Bring slices back to cool room temperature before serving so the crumb is at its most tender and the flavor of the apple butter comes forward.
Neighborly Grace
- The Preparation: This cake is a wonderful make-ahead — the crumb only grows more moist and flavorful a day after baking. Bake it a day early, frost it when cool, and keep it covered; it holds beautifully for a gathering.
- The Pour: A cup of hot spiced chai or a glass of late-harvest Riesling flatters the apple and spice beautifully; for a non-alcoholic pour, warm mulled apple cider echoes the cake's orchard flavor in every sip.
- The Vibe: Serve it in generous squares on a rustic cake stand, perhaps with a dusting of cinnamon around the plate. This is cozy, sweater-weather baking — meant for a kitchen table, a pot of coffee, and the unhurried company of a cool autumn afternoon.