This caramel apple dump cake is made with a spiced brown sugar cake, honeycrisp apples, and homemade caramel sauce all in one skillet!

This caramel apple skillet dump cake is like if apple pie and sticky toffee pudding had a baby. Perfectly soft spiced caramel apples mixed throughout a moist spiced brown sugar cake, all covered in even more caramel sauce...
It's so good, I'm considering swapping out the traditional Thanksgiving apple pie for this instead! Mark this recipe down on your baking to-do list, because you need to make this dump cake.
For more comforting fall recipes, try Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting, Brown Butter Snickerdoodles, Apple Cider Bundt Cake, and Pecan Brownie Pie.
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Why you'll love this caramel apple dump cake
- Spiced Brown Sugar Cake: This super moist spiced brown sugar cake makes for the perfect vessel to hold all of those spiced caramel apples.
- Notes of Brown Butter: Though it requires an extra step, the brown butter takes the cake to a whole new level.
- Spiced Caramel Apples: Think perfectly cooked apples coated in homemade caramel sauce with fall spices. Um YES PLEASE.
- Homemade Caramel Sauce: Honestly homemade caramel sauce is superior to store-bought, but if buying it from the store gets you to make this cake, then by all means, do it!
What is dump cake?
Dump cake is traditionally made with store-bought cake mix and canned fruit, and made all in one pan. Essentially, the all of the ingredients are mixed up in the same pan that it's baked in, making it an easy, no-fuss recipe.
If you know me, then you know that I'm not afraid of a little fuss and in my opinion that's what makes a from-scratch recipe better than the rest. My version of dump cake is a little fancied up, but still a true oven to table recipe!
Ingredient Notes
Ingredient quantities are listed in the recipe card below. Here you'll find notes on why I chose certain ingredients, as well as ingredient substitutions.
- Homemade Caramel Sauce: You could use store-bought or make this recipe!
- Fall Spices: I used a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
- Butter: I browned the butter for both the cake batter and pre-cooking the apples, but you can absolutely skip this and just melt the butter.
- Honeycrisp Apples: I find that honeycrisp apples have the perfect balance of sweetness and hold their shape well in the oven, but you could also use granny smith or pink lady.
- Brown Sugar: Since this is a brown sugar cake, this is the only sugar you need! I used dark brown sugar for a deeper molasses flavor, but you could also use light brown sugar.
- Flour: Use high-quality, unbleached all-purpose flour.
- Leaveners: You'll need both baking powder and baking soda to give this cake the perfect amount of rise.
- Egg: Just one egg for the cake!
- Applesauce: Unsweetened applesauce adds moisture and even more apple flavor to the cake!
- Buttermilk: If you do not have buttermilk on hand, you can swap it for an equal amount of whole milk.
- Turbinado Sugar: Top the cake with turbinado sugar just before baking to give it a sweet, crunchy top.
Kitchen Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
- 9" Cast Iron Skillet
- Saucepan
- Chef's Knife
- Cutting Board
- Mixing Bowl
- Whisk
- Rubber Spatula
Step by Step Instructions
This recipe requires some prep and a little bit of back and forth, but don't be intimidated! Because trust me, it is SO worth it in the end.
Unless you use store-bought caramel sauce, you'll need to make a half batch of this caramel at least one hour before making the cake to give it time to cool down and thicken up.
If browning the butter, do this for the cake batter first and chill it in the fridge while you move on to the spiced caramel apples. Once the apples are done, they can cool while you finish the cake batter.
After that, it's super straight forward with mixing the apples into the cake batter then baking! And you'll be rewarded with a gorgeous caramel apple dump cake 🙂
Step 1: Brown the butter for the cake batter, then allow to cool in the fridge. Meanwhile, make the spiced caramel apples.
Step 2: Peel and cut about 2 honeycrisp apples into thin slices.
Step 3: Mix the fall spices in the caramel sauce.
Step 4: Melt the butter in the cast iron skillet over medium heat until browned, then add the apples and brown sugar, and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Drain the apple juices, then pour in the spiced caramel sauce and cook for another minute. Allow to cool.
Step 5: Back to the cake batter - take the brown butter out of the fridge, and whisk in the brown sugar, then the eggs & vanilla. Alternate mixing in the dry and wet ingredients.
Step 6: Lastly, fold in the spiced caramel apples.
Step 7: Pour the cake batter back into the cast iron skillet, smooth out the top, then sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for about 35 minutes.
Step 8: Allow to cool for about 20 minutes, then drizzle more caramel sauce on top. Enjoy warm with a big scoop of ice cream!
Expert Baking Tips
- If making homemade caramel, I recommend making at least an hour before (or up to a week before) making the cake to give it time to cool down and thicken up.
- Start with an extra couple tablespoons of butter, since water evaporates as it browns. Also, keep in mind that European-style butter has less water content, so if you're using American-style butter you might want to start with even more butter.
- Don't add ingredients to the hot brown butter. Chill it in the fridge for about 15 minutes to bring it to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.
- Be sure to cut your apples into equally thin slices, so they will cook at the same rate.
- I used honeycrisp apples, but you could also use another baking apple, such as granny smith or pink lady.
FAQ
I love baking with honeycrisp apples, because they have the perfect balance of sweetness and hold their shape well in the oven. You could also use another baking apple, such as granny smith or pink lady.
Absolutely! But I highly recommend this foolproof salted caramel sauce 🙂 Homemade caramel is surprisingly easy to make, but if you've never made it before the post is packed with tips & tricks to walk you through it!
Storage Tips
Store this caramel apple skillet dump cake covered at room temperature or in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Baking in Grams
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed to create incredibly delicious baked goods that you can easily recreate in your own kitchen with success. The only way this is possible is to standardize the way ingredients are measured - by weight. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), I can ensure that you can make the recipe accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale.
If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.
But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!
Happy baking! x
Other fall recipes to try
If you tried this recipe, I'd love to know how it turned out for you! Leave a star rating & review below and post a picture (or video!) on Instagram and tag me so I can see your bakes! Not ready to make this recipe yet? Click the heart button on the right of your screen to save it for later 🙂
Print📖 Recipe
Caramel Apple Skillet Dump Cake
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 9" skillet cake 1x
- Category: cake
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This caramel apple dump cake is made with a spiced brown sugar cake, honeycrisp apples, and homemade caramel sauce all in one skillet!
Ingredients
For the homemade caramel sauce:
- Get the ingredients here (I would recommend a half batch)*
For the spiced brown sugar cake:
- 84g (6 tbsp) brown butter (cooled; start with 113g unsalted butter)
- 180g (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp allspice
- 106g (½ cup) dark brown sugar
- 1 egg (room temp)
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 63g (¼ cup) unsweetened applesauce
- 56g (¼ cup) buttermilk
- Turbinado sugar for sprinkling
For the spiced caramel apples:
- 75g caramel sauce
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp allspice
- 28g unsalted butter
- 310g (about 2) honeycrisp apples (peeled & thinly sliced)*
- 53g (¼ cup) dark brown sugar
Instructions
For the homemade caramel sauce:
- Get the instructions here (I would recommend a half batch)
For the spiced brown sugar cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Start by browning the butter. You'll need 84g of brown butter, so start with about 113g (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.
- Pour the brown butter into a large mixing bowl and place in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes.*
- Meanwhile, switch over to making the spiced caramel apples.
For the spiced caramel apples:
- In a glass measuring cup, stir together the caramel sauce and spices. Set aside.
- Place a 9" cast iron skillet over medium heat.
- Add the butter and stir frequently until the milk solids have separated and browned.
- Add in the thinly sliced apples and brown sugar, and stir often for about 3-4 minutes.
- Drain the apple juices from the skillet, then pour the spiced caramel sauce over the apples and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring often.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Meanwhile, finish making the cake batter.
Back to the spiced brown sugar cake:
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
- To the cooled brown butter, whisk in the brown sugar, then the egg and vanilla.
- Add in half of the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
- Whisk in the applesauce and buttermilk.
- Then, mix in the rest of the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Pour the cooled spiced caramel apples into the cake batter and mix with a rubber spatula until evenly dispersed.
- Pour the batter back into the cast iron skillet and smooth out the top.
- Sprinkle with turbinado sugar and bake for about 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for about 20 minutes, then drizzle more caramel sauce on top.
- Enjoy warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Notes
- If making homemade caramel, I recommend making at least an hour before (or up to a week before) making the cake to give it time to cool down and thicken up.
- Start with an extra couple tablespoons of butter, since water evaporates as it browns. Also, keep in mind that European-style butter has less water content, so if you're using American-style butter you might want to start with even more butter.
- Don't add ingredients to the hot brown butter. Chill it in the fridge for about 15 minutes to bring it to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.
- Be sure to cut your apples into equally thin slices, so they will cook at the same rate.
- I used honeycrisp apples, but you could also use another baking apple, such as granny smith or pink lady.
Keywords: caramel apple dump cake, caramel apple cake
Viv says
If I don't have a skillet can I use a 9 inch cake pan or should I use a 9 inch deep dish pie pan? This sounds delicious.
Sloane says
Yes, you could use a cake or pie pan! Just be sure to grease it with butter. Would love to hear how it turns out!