Happy first day of fall! This apple spice loaf cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting is the perfect way to celebrate. It's super moist and loaded with soft spiced apples. And the brown butter cream cheese frosting, well is amazing on its own, but is the perfect complement to the warm fall spices and apples. This cake is extremely simple to make - all you need are two bowls and a whisk! Below I have explained all the tricks to baking this dense cake without drying it out, as well as how to make brown butter. Now, go bake this cake and enjoy it with your morning coffee!
Ingredients you'll need to make this apple spice loaf cake:
- All-Purpose Flour: You'll need over two cups of flour.
- Baking Soda: You'll need ¾ tsp of baking soda for the loaf cake.
- Fall Spices: I used a combination of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg, but you can certainly add any of your favorite spices.
- Neutral Oil: Use a light-tasting olive oil, vegetable oil, or canola oil.
- Plain Whole Milk Yogurt: To make this cake dense, you'll use yogurt rather than milk.
- Brown Sugar: You can use light or dark brown sugar.
- Granulated Sugar: You'll need less than half a cup of granulated sugar.
- Eggs: You'll two eggs at room temperature.
- Vanilla Extract: You'll need vanilla for both the cake and the frosting.
- Apples: I use about 1 ½ granny smith apples, but you can use any type of apple that you enjoy baking with!
- Brown Butter: You'll need 42g of brown butter, so you should start with about 60g of unsalted butter, as the water will evaporate and leave you with a smaller amount of butter.
- Cream Cheese: Keep your cream cheese cold - it's much easier to mix when its cold rather than at room temperature.
- Powdered Sugar: You'll need about 2 cups of powdered sugar.
- Milk: You may need to add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk to the frosting to get to the right spreadable consistency.
How to make brown butter:
- Always start with about 20g more butter than the recipe calls for, because as the butter melts, water evaporates.
- To brown the butter, in a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat for several minutes, swirling to even out the color.
- The butter will be ready once the fat solids have separated and darkened, and the butter is an even medium amber color.
- Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool before using.
Other fall recipes you'll love:
- Brown Butter Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls
- Cardamom Brioche Star Bread with Chocolate Hazelnut Filling
- Snickerdoodle Cookie Bars
- Maple Caramel Swirled Chocolate Fudge + Truffles
A few tips to make this apple spice loaf cake with brown butter cream cheese frosting:
- This dense cake requires a low temperature and long bake time to ensure it maintains a moist crumb.
- To prevent the top of the cake from over-browning while it bakes, place aluminum foil over the top about half way through the bake time.
- To cool the brown butter down quickly, simply place it in the fridge. You want the butter to solidify again before making the the frosting.
Happy baking! x
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Apple Spice Loaf Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Yield: 1 loaf cake 1x
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 270g all-purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 2 ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp allspice
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- 150g neutral oil
- 90g plain whole milk yogurt
- 190g brown sugar
- 75g granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 200g granny smith apples (about 1 ½ apples; peeled and cut into small chunks)
For the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 42g brown butter (start with 60g unsalted butter)
- 3 oz cream cheese
- 227g powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1-2 tbsp milk
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper, creating a sling for easy removal.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the oil, yogurt, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
- Fold the apple chunks into the batter until evenly distributed.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes - 1 hour 25 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Place aluminum foil on top of the cake half way through to prevent the top from over-browning.
- Allow to cool completely before frosting.
For the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting:
- To brown the butter, in a small saucepan, heat 60g of unsalted butter over medium heat for several minutes, swirling to even out the color. The butter will be ready once the fat solids have separated and darkened, and the butter is an even medium amber color. Transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge to cool and solidify before using.
- Beat the cream cheese and brown butter together. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, adding as much or as little as you would like. Beat in the vanilla. Add a tablespoon of milk until the frosting reaches the right consistency.
- Frost the loaf cake once it has cooled completely.
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