I made this cake because I wanted to bake something using some of the gorgeous fall apples that are coming into season.
This post also coincides with National Apple Dumpling Day, which is September 17.
I’m also participating in Apple Week with a dozen other bloggers this week.
We’re all posting at least one new apple recipe this week on our blogs and this is my contribution for the week.
The cake also does double duty for my Banana Bread Fest series, my fourth banana bread recipe. Technically though, it’s not really banana bread.
It’s definitely more cake-like than bread-like, lighter and with a more delicate crumb and an airier texture than banana bread. However, the banana, in addition to the yogurt incorporated into the cake batter, really helps to keep it moist, soft, and tender.
The cake’s favor leans much more toward apple than banana, and the spices I used including cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, and cloves accentuate and complement the flavor of the apples.
If you don’t keep all of those spices on hand, don’t worry about it and use what you do have.
I mixed up the batter by hand with a whisk, in one big bowl, by melting some butter, adding a little oil, sugar, eggs, yogurt, spices and whisking. After folding in some diced apples, mashed banana, and flour, the batter was ready in no time.
The selling point of this cake is not how easy it is to make or how the bits of apples in each bite are like little fruit surprises with a great chewy texture.
The selling point is the glaze.
I have made hundreds and hundreds of batches of glaze and frosting in my life and this vanilla caramel glaze is my number one favorite frosting or glaze, ever. It even surpasses chocolate-peanut butter buttercream and it’s hard to compete with chocolate + peanut butter + butter, but this glaze is my kryptonite.
If you like caramels, you’ll love it. It’s buttery, caramely, rich, smooth, decadent, sweet, and full of robust vanilla flavor. At room temperature, it stays soft and although it will set up and crystallize a tiny bit over time, it stays satiny and smooth.
Imagine biting into the creamiest, richest, most intense caramel that’s ever passed your lips, then infusing it with cream, sugar and vanilla, and then glazing a cake with it.
That’s what we have here and it makes store-bought jarred caramel sauce look like a pathetic excuse of a brown runny syrup that you’ll never be able to look at in quite the same way.
This recipe makes a generous-sized Bundt cake and since we didn’t need an entire cake just laying around, I sent half the cake with Scott, who was going back to his office after dinner to get some work done. He put out the cake at 9pm and apparently others in the building who were also working late had a case of the midnight munchies because he said that when went back into the breakroom a little after midnight, the entire cake was gone.
I guess they liked it.
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Spiced Apple and Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Caramel Glaze
Ingredients
Cake
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 5 ½ ounces vanilla or plain yogurt, one standard-sized small container; Greek yogurt is preferred, sour cream may be substituted
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas, about 1 1/2 large bananas
- 1 cup finely diced apples, 1 medium apple; I used one unpeeled Gala apple
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
Vanilla Caramel Glaze
- Makes about 1 cup glaze, enough to generously glaze the cake
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted (half of 1 stick)
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons cream or milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ to 2 cups+ confectioners’ sugar, sifted (must be sifted)
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 12-cup Bundt cake pan or tube cake pan very well with cooking spray (I usePam For Baking with Flour and it worked so well for me that this cake literally fell out of the pan while I was beginning to inverting it before I was properly set up to catch the cake on a cutting board) or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power. To the melted butter, add canola oil, yogurt, eggs, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cloves (all spices should be added to taste and if you don’t have all of them on hand, not a big deal to omit some) and whisk until batter is smooth and silky, about 1 minute of vigorous whisking. Add the bananas, apples, and stir to combine. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and stir until just combined, taking care not to over-mix and over-develop the gluten, which would result in a tougher cake. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 39 to 43 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean (or insert a sharp long-blade chef’s knife and it should come out clean). Allow cake to cool in pan for at least 15 minutes before inverting it and removing cake.
- While cake is cooling, make the caramel sauce. Optionally, while cake is cooling poke approximately 25 holes in the top surface of the cake with a chopstick or popsicle stick. The holes will allow the glaze to seep into the cake’s interior, creating a delicious caramel-apple flavor; the drawback is that it’s not quite as pretty when sliced, but since you’re not likely going to take pictures of the cake’s interior surfaces, I’d poke the holes.
Vanilla Caramel Glaze
- Note: This is a fast moving recipe; have everything in place before you begin.
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. To the melted butter, add the brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring nearly continuously. Allow the mixture to boil quite rapidly for 2 minutes, stirring nearly continuously. Remove the pan from the burner, allow it to cool for about 1 minute, and add the cream, taking caution because the mixture could bubble vigorously. Whisk aggressively to incorporate the cream and calm the bubbling.
- After the bubbling has subsided, add the vanilla and whisk to combine, using caution because the alcohol in the extract could cause the mixture to bubble up again. Add the confectioners’ sugar one-half cup at a time, until desired sauce consistency is reached (I absolutely recommend using sifted sugar so the glaze is whisks up smooth, silky, and free from lumps). Pour glaze over cake and allow it to set up for a few minutes if desired; or slice and serve immediately. Cake will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature. If there is extra unused glaze, it can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month; gently reheat it in the microwave prior to glazing another dessert.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Related Recipes
Caramel Apple Bars (GF with vegan adaptation) – Caramely and gooey and the chunky apples pieces and oats give a great chewiness
Spiced Apple Pie Smoothie (vegan, GF)
Banana Bread with Vanilla Browned Butter Glaze – Week 1 of Banana Bread Fest
Zucchini Banana Bread with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting – Week 2 of Banana Bread Fest
Pumpkin Banana Bread with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting – Week 3 of Banana Bread Fest
Do you have any favorite apple recipes?
Feel free to link up your favorite apple recipes
Check out these ladies’ blogs this week for their apple recipes
Thanks for the Cooking With Trader Joe’s Cookbook Giveaway entries and have a great week!
Your bundt cake looks amazing!! I love that you used greek yogurt! It adds so much more moister to a recipe!! I need to check out all of your breads, they all look mighty delish!!
wowee…I can understand why it disappeared so quickly! Thank you for sharing this recipe…it looks superdelicious and I can’t wait to try the Vanilla Caramel Glaze! Cheers!
Ahhhhh…..I want to make this cake right now!!!! Beautiful cake you have made here :-)
This bundt cake looks amaaazing! What perfect flavors for fall! We’ll have to make this stat!
I love this recipe! The Vanilla Caramel Glaze “tops the cake” :) I’m sure your husband’s co-workers loved him for bringing it to work!
Great photos of this cake Averie!! Love the sound of all these fall flavors :)
thanks my friend! and for your post the other day with the linkback – and for ALL That work & time it must have taken you!
From your photos, to your writing, to your recipe… I Think I just read through this post about 5 times! I love love love caramel and apples together, Averie! Simply my favorite. My mom makes a KILLER apple bundt cake and while she doens’t have a glaze for it… I think I may suggest this the next tiem she makes it. And as if your description of ingredients used: yogurt, banana, oil, and bnutter weren’t enough.. I can literally *see* how moist this cake is. Apple or banana cakes or breads MUST be moist in my book. Like, super moist. Dense and heavy. And perfect. Bonus points that it is EASY!!!
I can tell you spent time writing this post, which is why I love reading each word more than once! Your description makes me feel like I’m right there with you having a bite! No wonder Scott’s coworkers went ape-crazy over it!!!!
You are such a doll. I heart you :) I want to try your mom’s cake! She can make the cake, I’ll make the glaze and even do the dishes. You girls need to come to Cali! xoxo
Just finished baking this cake as two loaves. Getting ready to prepare glaze. Smells amazing! My son can’t wait to try it!
No.Way. This is the FASTEST I think anyone has ever made a recipe! OMG WOW!!! Please LMK how it goes with the glaze and the loaves and what you think of it all! Can’t wait to hear how two loaves vs. 1 big bundt works!
Cake was a hit! Glaze turned out great. I usually end up with lumpy glazes, but not this one! I didn’t have a12 cup bundt pan and the two loaves turned out just fine.
So glad the two loaf pans worked out, that the cake was a winner, and that glaze wasn’t lumpy and worked! And of all glazes, that one can be prone to lumps after stirring in the powdered sugar so if you can nail that one, you can do any! Thanks for making this and LMK! Makes my day!
WOW … gorgeous and I’m sure delicious!! I need apples and bananas STAT!
Thanks, Keri!
I love bundt cakes, this is just gorgeous! And that glaze looks to-die-for!
As always, thanks for the Pin. You are SO good with that..and it’s always appreciated :)
Yay for an awesome easy cake that looks super incredible!!! I am in love with that glaze. Although I’m not sure it would make it onto the cake because I would be spooning it into my mouth like crazy!!! Thank you so much for being part of Applicious Week with us:-)
Thanks for hosting the week and coming up with the idea and the glaze makes a little extra, maybe a smidge more than you ‘need’ for the cake…for taste-testing purposes :)
Mmmmm… looks delicious, and so perfect for the Fall! I am definitely going to have to try this soon!
Thanks, Sam!
Beautiful! And I am taking note of your glaze…wow!
This looks fantastic!
Oh my, your bundt cake looks wonderful! It really reminds me of fall :)
It’s probably more fall-like in the Bay Area…down here in San Diego it was 102 yesterday! CRAZY!
That is one gorgeous bundt cake–especially with the glaze (kind of reminds me of layered ribbons of deliciousness)! All of your great frosting recipes have made me wonder if there is a national Frosting Day. If not, I think there should be–are you in?!?!
layered ribbons of deliciousness = If I was trying to create a mood with a glaze (if that’s possible) THAT is the mood & vibe I was going for! It is like ribbons of deliciousness and I do love the idea of a Natl Frosting Day. I would be SO in!