Spiced Apple Cake With Brown Butter Buttercream

The crumb on this Spiced Apple Cake with Brown Butter Buttercream will have you coming back for more, no doubt. It’s moist. Yep, we refer to cakes as moist around here. And it’s loaded with a whopping two cups of apples with just the right amount of spices, nothing excessive.

I love easy, fun apple recipes. Here are some of my favorites: Apple Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Bread, Burnt Caramel Apples, Easy Apple Cake and my favorite Slow Cooker Spiced Apple Cider.

Also check out the Caramel Apple Cake (it’s a loaf cake) and Apple Sour Cream Cake with Apple Cider Drizzle in The Cake Book!

Before We Get Started

• Apples. My two favorite baking apples are Gala and Granny Smith. There are a host of other good baking apples. You want something crisp and flavorful that won’t become mealy and too soft while baking. I also didn’t peel my apples for this and I swear you can’t even tell. The apples are cut in a small dice. But you do you.
• Nutmeg. Fresh grated nutmeg will change your life. Ditch the pre-ground stuff and start grating it as you bake. The smell is sublime.
• Simplify. This is the ultimate snack cake. The brown butter buttercream makes it especially decadent. But if you’d like to take it down a notch, make it a wee more casual or just can’t bear the thought of whipping up some buttercream before you take a bite, then just sift some powdered sugar over the top and call it a day.

Let’s make some jazzy spiced apple cake, shall we?

The Baker’s Guide to Measuring Flour

One of the biggest (and most common) mistakes in baking is how we measure flour. If you find yourself without a scale, see my top tips on how to properly measure flour for the perfect amount every time!

The Magic of Browning Butter

My number one (only?) reason for browning butter is that the flavor it imparts on baked goods is next level. Think of flavors like toffee and caramel being added to your cookie without actually adding toffee and caramel.

Browning butter only takes about 5 minutes, with an additional 5-ish minutes more for it to cool before using. It’s literally the only element keeping this from being a true, one-bowl recipe (because we need the saucepan for browning).

When browning butter, moisture in the butter evaporates. This is why I like to get in and brown my butter quick as the longer your saucepan is on the hot burner the more moisture will evaporate.

When you brown butter, you loose volume. A stick of butter (US) weighs 113 g. Post browning it will weigh about 83 grams.

If you start with 8 tablespoons (113 g) of butter and follow my browning butter instructions below, I don’t think you need to then, again, weigh your brown butter (unless out of curiosity). But this is a good baking fact to stash away for all of your brown butter baking.

I have a full brown butter tutorial here!

Favorite Brown Butter Recipes

Adding brown butter really elevates these recipes: Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies, Spiced Apple Cake With Brown Butter Buttercream, Pumpkin Bourbon Cake With Brown Butter Bourbon Buttercream and Brown Butter Banana Bread.

Here is a complete list of Brown Butter Recipes on DisplacedHousewife!

My Favorite Tools for Making Fabulous Sheet Cakes

My absolute favorite tools for making this Fluffy Apple Cake:

My favorite whisk and heat-safe nesting glass bowls that I really need everyone to own.

My trusty scale for precision.

My favorite spatula meets spoonula  for mixing (I love this soft blue). FYI the spatula in the video is no longer being made..RIP.

This is my favorite 9-Inch NordicWare Square Baking Pan to bake this cake in. *IF* you use a glass baking dish, be sure to lower your oven about 25°F (15°C) and add about 10 to 15 minutes to the bake time.

For more fun shopping, check out my Shop (aka my favorite things!).

I love easy, fun apple recipes. Here are some of my favorites: Apple Cinnamon Roll Pull Apart Bread, Burnt Caramel Apples, Easy Apple Cake and my favorite Slow Cooker Spiced Apple Cider.

Also check out the Caramel Apple Cake (it’s a loaf cake) and Apple Sour Cream Cake with Apple Cider Drizzle in The Cake Book

Want more cake tips, ideas & recipes?! Check out my 10 Favorite Easy Tips for Perfect Cakes! 

This is such a yummy cake, I hope you enjoy your Fluffy Spiced Apple Cake with Brown Butter Buttercream!

Spiced Apple Cake with Brown Butter Buttercream

Soft, fluffy, single-layer Spiced Apple Cake covered in a layer of easy peasy Brown Butter Buttercream. One of my favorite apple cakes that is as easy as it is delicious!

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Cake

Keyword: Apple, Cake, Brown Butter, Sheet Cake, Fall, Baking

Servings: 9 Servings

Author: Rebecca Firth

Ingredients

For the Apples

• 2 cups unpeeled apples (cored and small dice)
• 2 tablespoons (28 g) light brown sugar (packed)
• 1 tablespoon (9 g) all-purpose flour
• ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

For the Cake

• 3 large eggs (room temperature)
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• 1 cup (240 g) sour cream (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup (112 g) sunflower or grapeseed oil (or other neutral-flavored oil)
• 1 tablespoon (13 g) real vanilla extract
• 1 ¾ cups (237 g) all-purpose flour (how to measure flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
• 1/4 cup (60 g) low-fat milk

For the Brown Butter Buttercream

• 83 grams  unsalted brown butter  (about 8 tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter before browning)
• 3 cups (360 g) confectioners’ sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 cup (60 g) milk or more to thin (see note below recipe)

Instructions

For the Apples

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (177 ℃). Grease, flour and line a 9 X 9 baking pan with parchment paper letting the excess fall over the sides of the pan.
• In a medium bowl add the diced apples, brown sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg and stir to coat. Set aside.

For the Cake

• In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Continue whisking and add in your sour cream, oil and vanilla extract.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, sea salt and nutmeg.
• Add the flour mixture and milk alternately to the sugar-egg mixture, ending with the milk. Fold the apple mixture into the batter in as few strokes as possible. Pour of the batter into the prepared pan. Gently tap the pan on the counter several times to release any trapped air bubbles.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes in the center of the oven or until a toothpick pressed into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool for 50 minutes in the pan then remove (using the excess parchment paper to pull it out of the pan) onto a rack to finish cooling.

For the Brown Butter Buttercream

• While the spiced apple cake cools, prepare your buttercream. Place 8 tablespoons (113 g) butter in a small sauce pan and melt over medium heat. Once melted, crank up the heat to medium high. Stand by, continuously stirring and watching. Small golden bits will start to settle on the bottom of the pan. Once this happens, take it off the heat and pour into a medium, heat-safe bowl to cool until closer to room temperature, but still liquid. 

  (For more details on browning butter, check out my How to Perfectly Brown Butter tutorial)
• In an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment add the cooled brown butter and powdered sugar and mix on low until fully blended. Add in the cinnamon, nutmeg and the milk until thinned to the desired consistency. Mix until smooth. Spread over the top of the cooled spiced apple cake…I like to leave a ½-inch gutter around the edge of the cake so that you can see it when looking over the top. But you do you! Enjoy!! xo

Notes

Milk

When testing this recipe, I used Whole Milk. You can, however, use whatever milk you have on hand.

Want a Brown Butter Refresher? 

Check out my How to Make Perfect Brown Butter tutorial.

Cake Tips!

Want more cake tips, ideas & recipes?! Check out my 10 Favorite Easy Tips for Perfect Cakes! 

Thanks for baking with me! Please rate + comment this recipe and tag me on social @displacedhousewife #displacedhousewife so I can see your beautiful treats! xo