This caramel apple upside down cake is a fall must-make. Combining a soft cinnamon-spiced cake with buttery caramelized apples, we’re essentially getting two desserts in one. After inverting, the topping’s juices seep down into the cake and add unbeatable flavor and moisture. What you’ll love most, besides the flavors, is that there’s no fancy decoration required—the lovely garnish is literally baked into the cake!
One of the first recipes I published was caramel apple upside down cake. It’s a forever favorite and totally deserving of that early spot in my archives. I bake this recipe at least once every fall season and have made a couple minor updates to the recipe over the years. The cake is better than ever. I figured you’d appreciate seeing what I’ve done!
This Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake Is:
- melt-in-your-mouth soft & moist, like this apple cake but remixed a bit!
- extra flavorful like my beloved apple cinnamon bread
- easy—no crazy ingredients or techniques required
- perfectly sized for a small family or gathering
- the best destination for your freshly picked apples 😉
Try it at least once. I guarantee it will be a repeat recipe in your kitchen. And if you are looking for even more inspiration, here is a list of 30+ fall cake recipes.
Apple Upside Down Cake Topping
The topping is baked underneath the cake. After the cake slightly cools, we’ll invert it onto a serving plate. The caramel flavor comes from the butter and brown sugar. Combined with vanilla and apples, the topping alone makes this a recipe worth repeating. It’s downright GOOD.
I know you’ll appreciate this: I mention this above, but it’s worth repeating. Apple upside down cake is basically already frosted—once you invert the cake, the garnish is already there!
A few preliminary notes on the topping:
- The topping in my original recipe had a little too much butter. I also reduced the cinnamon and put more in the cake itself.
- Melt the butter and brown sugar together on the stove, then cook for 1 minute. The mixture will slightly thicken and take on a caramel-like flavor that intensifies as the cake bakes. Not a lot of recipes do this, but it makes a big flavor difference. In my pineapple upside down cake recipe, we simply add melted butter to the cake pan and sprinkle the brown sugar on top. As a result, you don’t really get the same caramel flavor. Perfectly fine for that recipe, but why not take an extra minute here?
- Arrange the apple slices on top of the butter/brown sugar mixture. Try to squeeze as many apple slices in the pan as you can. No one has ever complained about extra caramel-y apples!
Let’s Make the Cake Batter
The cake batter is pretty straightforward and similar to the original recipe. Like most cakes, the base is creamed butter and sugar. Regular sugar lightens up the crumb, while brown sugar adds flavor. We use both in this cake. The cake is super soft and cinnamon-spiced—similar in taste and texture to apple cupcakes.
The batter differs from my pineapple upside down cake. Pineapple rings are heavier than apple slices, so we use cake flour, egg whites, and sour cream in that recipe to help keep the crumb light. Here we can use whole eggs and all-purpose flour.
Two Baking Tips:
- You can bake this cake in a cake pan or pie dish, but make sure it’s at least 2 inches deep. I recommend this pie dish, which is 1.8 inches deep but I never have an overflow issue.
- Because of the wet bottom layer (which is the topping), the cake takes much longer than a typical 1 layer cake. Its juices will bubble up the sides, creating these incredible caramelized edges. (See the edges below? They’re so good!) With upside down cakes, it’s always good practice to place a baking pan or sheet on a lower rack to catch any juices should they splatter over the edges.
Expect a Dense Cake
I’ve made hundreds of upside down cakes, or so it seems, and I say with 100% certainty that this style of cake will always be on the denser side. (Unless you are using store-bought cake mix.) The cake is served upside down. The weight of the topping, which is the bottom of the cake as it bakes, weighs down the crumb beneath it. Upside down cake will never be as light and airy as white cake. If you were to make this exact cake batter and serve it right-side-up, the cake would taste much airier. Does that make sense?
While this apple upside down cake is mega soft and not nearly as dense as, say, pound cake, it’s not overly light either. I know you’ll love its unique texture, especially paired with the caramel apple topping. Let me know how you like it!
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Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
- Yield: serves 8-10
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This stunning apple upside down cake combines a soft cinnamon-spiced cake with a delicious buttery caramel topping. Pack those apples into the pan—this cake can hold a lot and you won’t regret those extra slices!
Ingredients
Topping
- 6 Tablespoons (85g)Â unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 medium apples, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch slices (1.5–2 cups, or 188–250g, apple slices)*
Cake
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 Tablespoons (90ml) whole milk, at room temperature*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- Prepare topping first:Â Combine butter and brown sugar together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk occasionally until butter has melted. Cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute as mixture thickens. Remove from heat and whisk in the cinnamon and vanilla extract. Pour into an ungreased 9×2 inch pie dish or round cake pan. (Make sure the pan is 2 inches deep. I recommend this pie dish, which is 1.8 inches deep but I never have an overflow issue.) Arrange the apple slices neatly on top, overlapping where necessary. See photo above. Place pan in the refrigerator for a few minutes as you prepare the cake batter. This helps solidify or “set” the topping’s arrangement.
- Make the cake batter:Â Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add both sugars and beat on high speed until creamed together, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. On high speed, beat in the eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl as needed. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer onto low speed and as the mixer runs, slowly pour in the milk. Beat on low speed just until all of the ingredients are combined. Do not over-mix. You may need to whisk it all by hand to make sure there are no lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be slightly thick.
- Remove topping from the refrigerator. Pour and spread cake batter evenly over topping.
- Bake for 40–46 minutes, tenting foil on top of the cake halfway through bake time to prevent the top from over-browning before the center has a chance to fully cook. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out mostly clean—a couple moist crumbs are OK. Don’t be alarmed if your cake takes longer or if the cake rises up and sticks to the foil. (We serve the cake upside down anyway!)
- Remove cake from the oven and cool on a wire rack for just 15 minutes. Invert the slightly cooled cake onto a cake stand or serving plate. Some of the juices from the topping will seep over the sides—that’s ok. You can slice and serve the cake warm, but the slices will be messy. I find it’s best to cool the cake completely at room temperature before slicing and serving. Do not refrigerate the cake to speed up the cooling process because it could end up tasting overly dense.
- Cover leftover slices and store for up to 3 days in the refrigerator or 3 months in the freezer. Thaw at room temperature. I don’t recommend freezing the cake as a whole because the topping arrangement doesn’t thaw very nicely. See make ahead instructions below.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can refrigerate the topping in step 2 for up to 1 day. If refrigerating for longer than 1 hour, cover it tightly. Other than that, this isn’t the best cake to make ahead of time or freeze because the apples will settle down into the cake—while still tasty, the presentation won’t be as pleasing. You can, however, prepare the cake batter’s wet ingredients (cover and refrigerate) and dry ingredients (cover at room temperature) separately up to 1 day ahead of time, then continue with the recipe the next day. Let the wet ingredients come to room temperature before mixing.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Saucepan | Whisk |Â 9-inch Pie Dish | Glass Mixing Bowl | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack
- Old Recipe: The current cake recipe was updated in 2020. If you loved the old cake recipe, originally published in 2012, here it is: increase the topping’s butter to 1/2 cup (1 stick; 115g) and add 1/4 teaspoon each of ground cloves and ground nutmeg when you stir in the cinnamon. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of walnuts on top of the apples before pouring/spreading on the cake batter. In the cake batter, reduce the milk to 1/4 cup (60ml).
- Apples: Use your favorite variety of apple. I typically use Granny Smith, Fuji, or Honeycrisp. Here’s more on the best apples to use for baking.
- Milk: Whole milk is best, but you can use lower fat or nondairy milk if needed.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read more about the importance of room temperature ingredients.Â
This turned out great! Everyone wanted seconds! I was very worried about over-baking and causing it to be dry, but it was perfect. I baked for the full 46 mins. Immediately after removing from the oven, the center was ever-so-slightly moist compared to the outside edges, but once it cooled it was perfect. We ate with ice cream. Thanks for the awesome recipe. Next time I might do a bit more of the caramel topping.
Apples at the top tastes good, but the cake is way too dry. Not a great recipe. I don’t recommend..
Hi Lily, thank you so much for giving this recipe a try—we’re so sorry the cake came out a bit dry for you. We’d be happy to help troubleshoot. How did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured, which can dry out baked goods. Over baking (even just a minute or two!) can also cause cakes to become dry. You might find this post on how to prevent dry and dense cakes helpful, too. Thanks again!
I am very much an untalented novice baker but, thanks to your wonderful , easy to follow recipes for pineapple and apple upside down cakes, even I managed to bake two excellent cakes. Thank you.
Would this work the same in a 9″ spring form pan do you think?
Hi Katherine! That should be fine, though you risk the caramel topping seeping through the springform pan.
Excited to try this one out. Out of curiosity, why does this apple cake recipe exclude OJ, which is included in the simple apple cake recipe? Would you recommend including it here as well? If so, how?
Hi Devin, The cakes are different flavors, so the ingredients are slightly different! Here we are focusing more on the buttery caramel flavors and any orange juice added to the batter wouldn’t be noticeable.
Hey! I wanted to know if i can make this cake without eggs? Or if there is any other substitute for the eggs?
Hi Dona, We haven’t tested this recipe with an egg substitute but let us know if you try anything.
Hi Donna,
I veganized the cake 🙂 2 eggs = 2 tbsp soy flour mixed with 4 tbsp water.
Do you add the foil at 20 minutes or is the foil there and you make a tent out of it in the middle of baking time?
Add the foil at 20 minutes.
I loved this recipe! I made it for thanksgiving and it was a huge hit. I made it the day before so I was a little worried about the apples sinking too much, but it really wasn’t that bad. The apple taste is very faint but I felt like it was the perfect amount. The cake itself tastes like brown sugar and spices. Overall the cake was perfect for fall, and felt super warm and cozy.
I made this for Thanksgiving twice, once earlier in the week as a trial, and once the day of. This cake tastes DEVINE, amazing. One thing I changed between the two trials was the way I cut my apples. I used a mandolin slicer on the middle setting for the second attempt, and the apples were all uniform and it just looked so much prettier when I flipped it. Also, thinner apple slices were easier to cut with a fork when eating. Beautiful tasting and looking cake!
I made this with fresh apples off our own trees on my dad’s farm in Iowa and it was amazing! Everyone requested for me to make it again! Easy and quick to make!
Does this need to be made the day of or will it still be good if made one day before?
Hi Hilarh, see the recipe notes for make ahead instructions.
Is it helpful to line the pan with parchment paper
Hi Barbara, we don’t find it necessary for this recipe, although you can certainly give it a try. Hope you enjoy the cake!
I’m hoping to give this recipe a whirl this weekend and am wondering if there’s an optimal amount of time ahead that one should make the cake before serving – and specifically if any amount of time is “too long.” I saw the note about the apples sinking into the cake and am wondering at what point that may start to happen. Would 6-8 hours be too long to let it sit? Thanks for any thoughts!
Hi Andrew, 6-8 hours in advance is just fine. Keep it uncovered. I just wouldn’t make it a full day in advance. The presentation just isn’t as nice.
Wow
Made this yesterday and I was amazed at how beautiful it turned out. I
sprinkled chopped walnuts and raisins over the apples. I actually used a box yellow cakemix. I happen to have a tube pan with an additional flat bottom insert that I used and was very glad I placed an old cookie sheet below because there was seepage. Next time I’ll use a regular high sided cake pan.
I made this cake tonight and followed the directions. Everything was going good until the 15min cool time ended. I went to invert it and it stuck to my non stick cake pan. What did I do wrong. It tastes good.
Hi Wayne, if the cake stuck to the pan, it sounds like it may have been slightly over baked. An easy fix for next time! Try decreasing the bake time just a bit. Use a toothpick to test for doneness – a mostly clean toothpick means the cake is ready. You can also run a knife along the edges of the pan before inverting – that should help loosen it up a bit. Thank you again for giving this one a go!
Thank you. This was my practice run for Thanksgiving
I made this for my birthday cake and it was scrumptious! I reduced the recipe by 25% because it was just for my husband and me, and I baked it in a 6″ pyrex storage container. It worked beautifully. The additional depth of the container allowed the cake to rise a bit more than it probably does in a pie dish, and the cake itself was lovely — tender crumb, just moist enough and just spicy enough to compliment the caramel apple topping. I plan to make this for Thanksgiving!
This is probably the BEST thing I have ever made!!! From the moment I put a piece in my mouth I was in love! The perfect amount of sweetness and the cake was soooo soft. You have to make this cake.
Hi, I feel like Biscoff could be a great addition. Any thoughts about how to add? Spread or maybe cookie crumbs?
Thanks!
Hi Sivan, we haven’t tried that, so aren’t sure how to incorporate them into this cake. We do love and recommend this Biscoff pie crust, though!
Beautiful cake. I was worried because of some of the other comments about it being dry but it absolutely wasn’t. It was sweet, delicious, moist and wonderfully spiced (not too much). I didn’t change anything though I did follow the advice to leave in a little longer because it didn’t seem cooked through (about another 7mins for my oven).
For me, a lot of American cakes lack flavour and can be too sweet so perhaps those complaining prefer more bland flavours. This cake had a point of view but wasn’t divisive- everyone loved it (we’re all European). I’ll definitely make again and have recommended it to others already.
Thank you, Alex! This is great to read and I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it.
Can I make this in a regular bundt pan and would the baking time be different?
Hi Jill, a Bundt pan could work, but arranging the apples may be tricky. We’re unsure of the best bake time. Let us know if you try anything!
Doubled this recipe and did it in a cast iron 13×9 pan and it turned out perfect. Cook time was an hour on the dot, covered and rotated half way through. Waited a bit longer for it to cool since the cast iron holds so much heat before turning it out. Took about 25 mins til it was still warm but cool enough to flip out. Would give this recipe a 10 if I could.
I’ve been making this cake for years and everyone loves it.Always turns out beautiful. The only thing I have changed is I used olive oil instead of butter.
Do you mean you use olive oil in the topping also?
Been meaning to make this cake and it was sooo delicious and fairly easy. Even yummier the second day.
I love this cake, so easy to make and looks so pretty!
This cake sounded so good but it’s not. I used Harrelson apples that are tart. It comes together easily but the cake is sweet, very dry and way to much cinnamon. The spices drowned out most of the apple and caramel flavor. If I try this again I would use oil instead of the butter and buttermilk/sour cream instead of the milk. I would leave the spices out of the cake all together.
Thanks Sally! This cake is sooo good!! I have made 5 in less than one week and shared with everyone in my life. It’s a new staple for fall.
My family loves this! In the oven now for the second time this week. I’m using ginger golds- so good!
I’ve never gotten as many compliments about a cake before! My family loved it!
Can I use 6 mini bundt cake pans? If so, what would chNge, if you k oe, with the bake time? I bake for Christmas and this would be a nice change from my Rum Cake. Naturally, I’ll add cognac instead.
Hi Casacove, we haven’t tested this recipe in mini Bundt pans, so we’re unsure of the exact bake time. It will depend on the exact size of your pans. Hope it’s a hit!
Th. I kind of figured out the ratios and times. It’s very similar since the texture and batter re.ain the same. A out a 5 mindifference. I’ll be trying this weekend.
The flavour is great in this recipe but I found the cake to be a bit dry. I cooked an extra 5 mins and perhaps that was a bit too long. I just had gala apples on hand but a granny smith or other apple would have added more flavour. I’m not giving up on this recipe I just need to tweak a bit.