This cake is white chocolate caramel apple cake perfection! Tender cinnamon caramel cake layers filled with apple pie filling and caramel drizzle, wrapped with white chocolate buttercream, topped with caramel, and sanded with a layer of cinnamon sugar coating – this cake is all kinds of yum! It’s perfect for fall and inspired by my favorite caramel apple flavor. I can’t wait for you to dig into this one!

Inspiration

The inspiration for this tasty cake I’ve created for this season comes from one of our favorite fall traditions! Every year my boys and I love to head over to Gardner Village to see the witches they have set up all over for everyone to find. At the end of our witch-finding, we love to head into Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and grab a caramel apple or two to share. One of them always MUST be the apple pie flavor! It has caramel, white chocolate, and a dusting of sugar and cinnamon all over. It’s my favorite, and has recently become my littlest son’s favorite, too! I knew I needed to make it into a caramel apple cake flavor this year.

I already have a caramel apple cake, but this one needed to have it’s own cake with white chocolate and a cinnamon sugar coating all around.

Let’s talk caramel

So for the caramel drizzle between the cake layers and also this dreamy caramel topping, I knew I couldn’t just use caramel as is. Why? Caramel tends to harden in the fridge, and when I make my cakes, I know I’m going to need to chill the cake a few times. I changed the caramel into a caramel ganache simply by adding a little heavy cream to the mix. This softens the caramel, but also will help it come to room temperature faster when slicing and serving the cake. It will make the caramel runny, but will work out better when you’re serving the cake, I promise!

The type of caramel you use doesn’t matter – I love Peter’s Caramel, or you could use homemade, or hey, any other store-bought caramel should work fine. Just make sure to not skip the extra step in adding in the heavy cream to make it a ganache.

As always, when slicing into your cake, make sure to use a hot sharp knife and cut/serve your cake cold. Yep, cold. It’s the only way 🙂

Adding ganache to your buttercream

This can seem like a daunting task, but I promise you it’s super easy and can bring the best white chocolate flavor to your buttercream.

The biggest thing to watch out for is making sure the white chocolate has completely mixed in with the heavy cream, and that the temperature isn’t too hot when adding it to your buttercream.

I LOVE the way the caramel looks on top! I actually already used this design/technique on a few of my new Cookbook #2 cakes (coming out in 2022). So it was a no-brainer on this one – mostly because it makes the cake look like a caramel apple in itself, which is super fun!

FILLING

For the filling, I used my go-to apple filling! I’ve used it in several cakes, and I knew it would be a shoe-in for this one. The best tip for this is to make sure to cube the apples super small – I’m talking the size of a pea. I use a chopper for this step, or you could brush up on those awesome knife skills and chop them all up.

The apples I use are always honeycrisp or granny smith. The tart flavors of these apples make for a really tasty filling when paired with the sweet brown sugar and cinnamon spices.

I recommend making the cake layers and filling in the same day, and then whipping up the buttercream right before assembling the cake.

Each bite will remind you of the tastiest white chocolate caramel apple, and will welcome all the most gorgeous fragrances of fall right into your kitchen this season.

That’s it! I hope you enjoy my new cake as much as we did this week!

As always, if you bake one of my goodies, I’d love to see it on Instagram @bakingwithblondie & #bakingwithblondie so we can all join in on the fun. 🙂

Happy Baking – xo,

Mandy

Get the Recipe: White Chocolate Caramel Apple Cake

Tender cinnamon caramel cake layers filled with apple pie filling and caramel drizzle, wrapped with white chocolate buttercream, topped with caramel, and sanded with a layer of cinnamon sugar coating.
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Ingredients
 

Caramel Apple Cake Layers

  • 2/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature
  • 1/3 cup sour cream, room temperature
  • 1/3 cup applesauce
  • 4 large egg whites , room temperature
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla
  • 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon Lorann caramel emulsion , optional
  • 1 box white cake mix, Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker will do best here

Apple Filling

  • 2 cups finely cubed honey crisp or granny smith apples
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 4 Tablespoons water
  • 1 slurry 1/4 cup water + 1 teaspoon cornstarch stirred together

White Chocolate Buttercream

  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 3 sticks (or 1 1/2 cup) unsalted butter
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla
  • 8-9 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Lorann Carmel emulsion , optional

Caramel Ganache

  • 2 cup caramel (homemade or store-bought)
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream

Extras

  • 1 cup cinnamon sugar (1 cup sugar + 2 Tablespoons cinnamon)

Instructions
 

For the Caramel Apple Cake Layers:

  • Preheat the oven to 325 convection bake, and prep three 6" cake rounds with a swipe of shortening and dust of flour to prevent sticking.
  • In a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except for the cake mix. Sift in the cake mix and gently stir until just combined (don't overmix!). Split the batter evenly between the three prepared cake rounds.
  • Bake for 25-27 minutes and then pull them out to cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least a couple hours for easier stacking.

For the Apple Filling:

  • In a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir together everything except for the slurry until it bubbles and the apples are tender.
  • Stir in the slurry and cook until the filling thickens. Add to a glass dish, cover, and store in the fridge until you're ready to stack and the mixture has cooled and thickened.

For the White Chocolate Buttercream

  • In a small glass bowl, stir together the white chips and heavy cream. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Add another 15-20 seconds and stir until there are no lumps and the mixture is uniform. Let it cool slightly before adding into the buttercream.
  • In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip up the butter until it's light and fluffy.
  • Add in the white chocolate mixture, salt, and vanilla, and whip up to combine.
  • Slowly add in the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time with the mixer speed on low.
  • Whip up the buttercream on high speed until light and fluffy. Add in a Tablespoon more of heavy cream if needed to thin.

Assembly

  • On a cake turntable with a cardboard cake round, add on a touch of buttercream in the center with an offset cake spatula to keep the cake layer in place.
  • Place the first cake layer down, then add on a thin layer of buttercream. Pipe a strong dam around the outside rim of the cake, then add in a 1/2 cup of the apple filling to the center. Drizzle on some of the caramel ganache. Place on the next cake layer and repeat.
  • Crumb coat the cake, then freeze for about 5 minutes until set.
  • Add on the final cake layer, using a cake scraper for smooth sides, and leave a raw edge along the top for a more rustic look. Place the cake on a cookie sheet and then softly add on the cinnamon sugar to the outside of the cake. Add on a pool of caramel on top.
  • Enjoy!