Soft cinnamon cake layers, frosted in brown butter vanilla bean buttercream, filled with apple pie filling and a hearty apple crumble, topped with a heavenly cinnamon ganache and buttery pie crust leaves, this cake is everything I dreamed it would be, and then some. Serve it a la mode, for an added “apple crisp” flair, and you have some of my favorite fall flavors right in your kitchen. Whether you call it an Apple Pie Cake or Apple Crisp Cake — it’s a bit of both, so it can totally go both ways!

This year has been such a whirlwind of everything cake. I never imagined I’d be here, or anywhere near here, but in a good way. The opportunities have been so humbling, and having you (dear cake-loving friends) here with me along this cake journey means the world to me.

Thank you for waiting, waiting, and then waiting even more for these recipes. I’ve had to cram so many cakes I’ve created this past year into my 2019 cookbook “Cake Confidence.” Although it’s been fun to create solely for the cookbook, and I’ve tried to be super diligent on Instagram, it’s been hard to keep my content new here on the blog. Now that my manuscript is in the hands of my publisher, designer, and editors, I can post recipes here more regularly for you! Thank you for waiting so long, and being so patient with me. I poured my heart and soul into the cookbook, and I’m happy to shift my efforts (in the meantime) to my website and new recipes for you here on Baking with Blondie!

This cake has been on my list for quite a while, and I wanted to wait until Fall to bake it. It stars some of my favorite ingredients this time of year – who am I kidding? These are my favorite flavors ALL THE YEAR long, haha!

The cake is simple – just soft white cake layers with a touch of cinnamon, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The rest of the flavors needed a voice, and I didn’t wan’t the cake portion itself to steal too much of the show; a happy compliment to the rest of the flavors, really. 

 

Most of my cakes are a pretty straight forward cake-and-buttercream combo, but this one needed something a little extra to get the maximum flavor. A traditional apple crisp is heavenly and is usually made with some kind of apple pie bottom, sometimes on a bed of flaky pie crust, and topped with a crumbly topping. It’s usually served a la mode, too.

To echo these flavors, and create it as much as I could in cake form, I made an easy apple pie filling using honey crisp apples (you could also use granny smith, or any other green apple too. I find them to be a bit too sour, but it’s totally up to you), added some vanilla bean paste to my buttercream to echo that ice cream flavor, and then added my warm spiced crumble to the inside and outside of the cake. To take it up even further, I’ve added a cinnamon ganache drip and brown butter to my buttercream.

Of course, brown butter has my heart in so many ways! If you’ve never made brown butter to use in anything, it’s time to change your world!! I’ve used it in a couple cookbook recipes, so I have those tucked away for later, but I couldn’t resist adding it to this recipe. The warm brown butter nutty flavors compliment everything we already have packed into this incredible cake!

The leaves are simple enough to make, too. I opted for store-bought refrigerated pie dough and a few leaf cutters. It was a life-saver after all the other extra steps this cake demands. But trust me, even though there’s a few extra steps for this cake, it’s totally worth every minute making them. The smells that will fill your kitchen will encourage you along the way as the promise of a soft, sweet, gorgeous cake slice will reward your labors!

This cake is best served a little cold, but I had my husband nuke it in the microwave a little bit before consuming it, and he loved it that way, too.

A few tips while assembling this cake:

– Slice up your apples super small (think tiny tiny cubes) so they will cook faster, and also spread easier between the cake layers.

– Make sure to pipe a dam properly before adding in your filling. A little filling goes a long way, so you don’t need to feel like you need to use all of it (reserve some for serving, or with some crackers as a snack!).

– The brown butter needs time to solidify after the whole “Browning butter” process, so making it a day or hour in advance is best. I store mine in the fridge in a glass dish with some plastic wrap on top.

– Make sure to fluff up the brown butter before adding your other stick of butter. You want the brown butter to leave no chunks/bits in your buttercream, because it will make it more tricky to spread if so.

-Press on your crumble while the cake is still barely frosted, that way they’ll stick on better.

-The cinnamon chips don’t need a lot of heavy cream, just a little will do. It’s not a traditional 1:1 ratio like chocolate chips for ganache.

– The pie crust leaves can be made in advance. I suggest making the crumble, brown butter, filling, and leaves while the cake is baking. They can all be stored in advance.

I really hope you guys love this cake as much as we did! I served it to my cake students at my recent cake class and they loved it. If you make my cake, I’d love to hear about it – seeing you make and enjoy in the kitchen is everything!

Happy fall, and make sure to stay tuned for some spooky Halloween creations here and especially on my IG page. 🙂

Here’s a little video to show the assembly and decorating process:

 

Apple Crisp Cake
Author: Mandy – Baking with Blondie
Soft cinnamon cake layers, frosted in brown butter vanilla bean buttercream, filled with apple pie filling and a hearty apple crumble, topped with a heavenly cinnamon ganache and buttery pie crust leaves, this cake is everything I dreamed it would be, and then some. Serve it a la mode, for an added “apple crisp” flair, and you have some of my favorite fall flavors right in your kitchen.
Ingredients
  • Cinnamon Cake [br]
  • 4 egg whites
  • 3/4 Cup sour cream
  • 3/4 Cup buttermilk
  • 1 Tablespoon Mexican vanilla
  • 1/3 Cup vegetable oil
  • 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 box Duncan Hines White Cake mix
  • [br]
  • Apple Crumble: [br]
  • 1 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3 Teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup butter (very softened)
  • [br]
  • Pie leaves[br]
  • store-bought pie dough sheet
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 Tablespoon Heavy Cream
  • Sugar crystals (thick sugar)
  • [br]
  • Cinnamon Ganache[br]
  • 1 Cup cinnamon chips
  • 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
  • [br]
  • Brown Butter Vanilla Bean Buttercream[br]
  • 1 Cup Unsalted Butter, divided
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/4 Cup heavy cream
  • 5-6 Cups sifted powdered sugar
  • [br]
  • Apple Pie Filling [br]
  • 2 Cups cubed apples (honeycrisp), cubed very small
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 Cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • pinch of salt
  • 3-4 Tablespoons water
  • slurry (1/4 Cup water + 1 teaspoon cornstarch)
Instructions
  1. For the Cake: [br]
  2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, prep 3 6″ cake rounds or 2 8″ cake rounds with a wipe of shortening and dust of flour. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg whites, sour cream, buttermilk, vanilla, vegetable oil, and cinnamon.
  4. Sift in the white cake mix, then stir gently until it’s just barely combined (don’t overmix!).
  5. Bake for 25-27 minutes until center is baked through. This cake will not be golden, so if you see it turning toasty golden, you are over-baking it! (It’s a good idea to make the rest of the elements of the cake while the cake is baking, saves big on time!)
  6. Let cool in the pans for 3 minutes, then carefully flip out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap twice, then freeze at least an hour before frosting.
  7. For the Apple Crumble:
  8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat.
  9. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients together until a crumble forms. Using your hands for this works really well in getting the butter incorporated fully.
  10. Spread the crumble out on the baking sheet to form a flat layer, and bake for 10 minutes, stir, then another 5 minutes.
  11. Let the crumble cool completely at room temperature.
  12. For the Pie Leaves: [br]
  13. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, prep a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat. Set aside.
  14. Cut out leaves in pie dough with a leaf punch or leaf cutter. Place them on the parchment paper and brush with egg wash (egg yolk whisked with heavy cream). Dust with sugar crystals.
  15. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool completely.
  16. For the Brown Butter Buttercream: [br]
  17. Take one stick of butter (1/2 cup) and cube it up in smaller pieces. Place it into a small saucepan at medium heat.
  18. Melt the butter slowly until it’s melted completely. Slow and low is the name of the game with browned butter.
  19. It will continue to cook on medium heat, and the mixture will bubble clear bubbles, then foam, after it foams, you will need to stir it to see to the bottom. This is when it goes from browned butter to BURNED butter very fast. You don’t want that to happen, so watch it closely.
  20. As soon as it starts to turn an amber color and smells nutty, stir it a couple times, then remove it from the heat. Immediately pour the melted browned butter into a glass dish, scraping into the dish any little browned bits (those are good and have a ton of flavor). Place in the freezer for 10 minutes or the fridge for a half hour to solidify.
  21. After the browned butter has solidified, place it into a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment with your other 1/2 stick of butter and whip it up until it’s light and fluffy.
  22. Add in the vanilla bean paste, salt, and heavy cream.
  23. Next, add in your powdered sugar a little at a time. If it’s too thin at the end, add in more heavy cream (a little bit).
  24. Apple Pie Filling[br]
  25. Place all ingredients, except for the slurry, into a medium saucepan. Stir together while heating through at medium heat. Let bubble and cool for 15-20 minutes until apples are soft.
  26. Add in slurry and stir until it’s thickened. If there’s not enough liquid, add in another few tablespoons of water. Let cool completely before adding it to your cake filling.
  27. To make Cinnamon Ganache: [br]
  28. In a glass bowl, microwave cinnamon chips with the heavy cream for 30 seconds then stir.
  29. Assembly: [br]
  30. On a cake turntable, tape an 6″ cardboard cake round on a 8″ one.
  31. Add on a touch of brown butter buttercream to the center.
  32. Place on first cake round, add a little bit of buttercream, then add a dam around the outside rim. Add in about 1/2 cup of apple pie filling, top with some apple crisp/crumble, then add on a bit of cinnamon ganache.
  33. Place on next cake round, add on some buttercream on the sides of the area between the layers, then repeat the filling process.
  34. Crumb coat the cake, the freeze for 10 minutes.
  35. Add on final layer of buttercream, then add on crumble along the bottom edge of the cake. Freeze for 10 minutes to set.
  36. Add on ganache drip, then freeze 5 minutes to set.
  37. Using buttercream as glue, add on leaves to the side of the cake and on top. Then sprinkle with cinnamon chips, crumble, and more leaves on top.
  38. Serve cold.