This Triple Glazed Caramel Apple Cider Cake is bursting with apple and the flavors of autumn! Shredded apples and an intense apple cider syrup flavor the moist, tender cake. Three glazes send it right over the top – an apple cider syrup glaze, an apple cider icing, and a caramel drizzle.
We’ve had our first day of chilly autumn weather, finally! And this Triple Glazed Caramel Apple Cider Cake is the perfect way to celebrate! It’s bursting with apple goodness! Shredded apples in the batter keep the crumb moist and tender without getting heavy or soggy. Apple cider is reduced to a sweet, tangy syrup to give maximum apple flavor. This apple cider syrup gives a triple punch of flavor – it’s used in the cake to intensify the apple flavor, it’s brushed on as a glaze over the cake after it bakes, and it’s used in the icing to drizzle over the finished cake.
I adapted this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated so you know it’s a keeper. The only changes I made were increasing the amount of apple cider syrup, doubling the amount of apple cider icing, and adding a caramel drizzle – all in the name of extravagance! The cake I didn’t even think of messing with – it’s absolutely perfect.
I added a caramel drizzle to this Triple Glazed Caramel Apple Cider Cake because I love the combination of autumn flavors – it’s like a caramel apple! It also adds a delicious, sweet contrast to the tangy apple cider. This cake is bursting with flavor! Check out my Easy Caramel Sauce for a super easy, super delicious caramel sauce.
This Triple Glazed Caramel Apple Cider Cake is so easy to make. It mixes up by hand, no mixer necessary. The apple cider reduces quickly in a skillet while you grab the other ingredients. You can grate the apples by hand or with the grating attachment on a food processor.
Apple Cider vs. Apple Juice:
Apple cider is a raw, non-alcoholic apple juice that hasn’t undergone a filtration process to remove coarse particles of pulp or sediment. It is usually darker and more opaque than apple juice. It may or may not be pasteurized and has a shorter shelf life. It is often found in supermarkets or farmer’s markets during apple season. Apple juice, on the other hand, has been filtered to remove solids and pasteurized so that it will stay fresh longer. Outside of the U.S. apple cider refers to an alcoholic beverage. Americans would call this a hard cider.
I love freezing individual slices of this cake for an occasional treat. Simply slice cake into individual pieces. So I don’t disturb the icing, I put the slices in a single layer on a wax paper covered tray in the freezer. As soon as it’s firm, I wrap each slice tightly in plastic wrap and return to the freezer. To heat, warm up in the microwave for about 30 seconds and enjoy fresh, warm Caramel Apple Cider Cake any night of the week!
Enjoy! Don’t forget to pin for later!
Triple Glazed Caramel Apple Cider Cake
Ingredients
- 6 cups apple cider
- 3 ¾ cups (18.75oz, 532g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 1/2 cups (6oz, 170g) confectioners’ sugar
- 16 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ cups packed (10.5oz, 298g) dark brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ pounds (680g) Honey Crisp or Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and shredded
- ¾ cup caramel sauce (click for link)
Instructions
- Boil the apple cider in a 12-inch skillet over high heat until it is reduced to 1 ½ cups.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan by buttering and flouring or spraying with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place confectioners’ sugar in a separate small bowl. Add 5 tablespoons of the reduced apple cider syrup and whisk until smooth. Cover and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and allspice in large bowl and whisk until combined.
- In another mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup apple cider syrup, melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
- Pour the liquid mixture over the dry mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until almost fully combined. Add the shredded apples and their juices. Stir until evenly distributed.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in the middle of a 350 degree F oven until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, about 55 minutes to 1 hour 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Invert cake onto cooling rack set on top of a baking sheet. Brush top and sides of cake with remaining apple cider syrup. Pour the excess syrup into a bowl and serve alongside the cake if you would like an extra drizzle.
- Optional: For an even moister cake, poke holes into cake with a skewer before brushing with syrup.
- Let cake cool completely, about 2 hours. Stir icing until smooth. Add a little apple cider syrup if it needs to be thinner. Drizzle apple cider icing and caramel sauce evenly over cake.
- Store in a covered container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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This cake looks so decadent and it must be bursting with apple cider flavor!
Thanks so much, Marcie! It has so much flavor!
Kelly, this cake looks simply AMAZING! I want one of those slices you saved right now! I love the idea of the cider glaze then the frosting and the caramel. So decadent and delicious! Wow!
Thanks so much, Laura! The frozen slices were perfect! We just heated them up in the microwave for a few seconds and it was like having it warm and fresh from the oven 🙂 The combination of the apple cider and the caramel is wonderful!
Just packing for work and would gladly pack a slice or two to have at work 🙂 Amazing !
Thanks so much! 🙂 Perfect for a work day snack!
o my…the glazes look so yummy! Wish I could have a slice with my tea now.
Thanks so much, Angie! So glad I saved a few pieces in the freezer! I hate craving something so yummy when I’m writing about it!
This is fabulous! I would have thought the cake alone was brilliant. But with those drizzles? Perfection!
The cake alone is brilliant! I just love taking things over the top! Thanks so much, Mimi!
Three glazes? Are you kidding me?!!! This is a show-stopper if ever there was! Your photos are stunning! Shared!
Thanks so much, Annie! That’s so kind of you and so lovely to hear! The three glazes were just perfect. Sounds a little much – but it was really just amazing! And added so much flavor!
Holy moly! That glaze!!!! This looks unbelievably delicious Kelly! Like, seriously good. Like, I want to reach through my screen and grab that whole cake good. If only…. 😉
Thanks so much, Dawn! We really loved it! I’m hoping someday they figure out how to get these things through the screen – It would be awesome!
Triple glazed, apple cider, and caramel. On a cake! Sounds just wonderful, Kelly.
It was so wonderful! You can’t go wrong with apples and caramel! Thanks so much, Bill!
WOW!! That is one gorgeous cake and it looks so moist! Thinking I need to make this instead of a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.
Thanks so much, Karrie! It would be perfect for Thanksgiving! My guess is we need both! 🙂
Your pictures are always so beautiful! And this cake looks absolutely perfect. We had our first autumn day as well yesterday. Two days ago still 25 degrees Celsius and sunny, now foggy and cold. But it was about time, I have to say. We have never had such a long and beautiful summer here in Germany.
Thanks so much, Adina! That’s so lovely to hear! The chilly weather hit us late and all of a sudden as well. I can finally get into the fall food mood!
Absolutely delicious! I could easily eat a few slices of this cake in one sitting!
Oh my, me too! Thanks so much, Alida!
I can’t wait to try this! It’s such a perfect fall recipe!
Thanks so much, Dani! It makes me think of a caramel apple in cake form!
This is the perfect fall cake. I love the amount of reduction in the apple cider. It must give the cake an intense apple flavor. I’ll be translating this one and passing it on to friends and family over here as I know they’ll all enjoy it.
The apple cider reduction was delicious! It was almost syrupy and intensely apple. I made a little extra to drizzle over each piece for those who want a flavor explosion!
I’m a little late to the game on this Autumn treat, but that’s ok. Better late than never, right? I love the flavors in this cake, and it’s definitely something that would disappear in our house. We do the same thing with cake and wrap ’em in individual slices. That keeps us from eating the entire cake in just a couple of days! I’m totally bookmarking this page to come back and make this one…hopefully sooner than later, too. Well done, Kelly! 🙂
Thanks so much, David! The flavors in this cake were wonderful! It was such a nice treat to have a fresh, warm slice of cake days later. It reheated in the microwave surprisingly well.
Kelly, you had me at triple glazed! This cake looks and sounds like an absolute smasher, love the addition of the caramel drizzle, that takes it from perfect to absolutely perfect!
Thanks so much, Nicole! This cake is so delicious and so flavorful. The addition of the caramel drizzle reminds me of a caramel apple, in cake form!