Bake an apple cider cake with cinnamon, brown sugar, and concentrated cider for a moist, fragrant dessert with plenty of homemade charm!!

This apple cider cake is exactly what I want when apple season starts showing off: a tender, buttery cake packed with concentrated cider flavor, warm cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and a sparkling cinnamon sugar finish that makes every slice smell like it came straight from a very good bakery!

Ingredients

For Cider Reduction

• 3 cups fresh apple cider, about 720 ml

Use real refrigerated apple cider if you can find it rather than clear apple juice. Cider usually has a fuller, more complex apple flavor, and that difference becomes especially noticeable once reduced.

For Apple Cider Cake

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, 360 g
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, 113 g, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup neutral oil, 120 ml, such as avocado, canola, or vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cups packed light or dark brown sugar, 250 g
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 50 g
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup full-fat sour cream, about 180 g, room temperature
• 3/4 cup reduced apple cider, 180 ml, from cider prepared above

For Cinnamon Sugar Finish

• Remaining 1/4 cup reduced apple cider
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Servings: 12 to 14 slices

How to Make Apple Cider Cake

Pour 3 cups apple cider into a wide saucepan and place it over medium-high heat. Once cider begins bubbling steadily, lower heat slightly so it maintains a lively simmer without splashing all over your stovetop.

Let it reduce for about 25 to 35 minutes, checking more frequently toward end, until only 1 cup remains. A wide saucepan works faster than a tiny deep pot because more liquid surface is exposed.

I usually pour cider into a heatproof measuring cup when I think it is close rather than trying to judge depth by eye. If you still have more than 1 cup, return it to pan and keep simmering.

If you accidentally go slightly below 1 cup, do not panic and start composing an apology letter to your cake! Add just enough regular cider to bring it back to 1 cup. Set reduced cider aside until it feels warm rather than piping hot.

While cider cools, position an oven rack in center and preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 10 to 12-cup Bundt pan with baking spray containing flour, making sure spray reaches every curve and center tube.

Bundt pans have a remarkable ability to find whichever tiny patch you forgot to grease, so be thorough! I prefer preparing pan shortly before adding batter rather than spraying it 30 minutes ahead and allowing coating to slide down sides.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice until spices look evenly distributed.

Take an extra 20 seconds here because nobody wants one slice with every speck of nutmeg while another slice tastes like it missed spice meeting entirely. Set dry mixture aside.

Add softened butter, neutral oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar to a large mixing bowl.

Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 2 to 3 minutes. Mixture will not become as fluffy as a traditional butter-and-sugar mixture because oil is present, but it should look creamy, lighter, and well blended.

Scrape sides and bottom of bowl halfway through because streaks of butter like hiding down there.

Add eggs one at a time, beating for about 20 seconds after each addition and scraping bowl as necessary. Once eggs are incorporated, mix in vanilla. Batter should look smooth and slightly glossy.

If it appears a tiny bit curdled because ingredients were cool, keep going. Flour will usually bring everything together.

Measure 3/4 cup of cooled reduced apple cider for batter and save remaining 1/4 cup for finishing cake. Stir sour cream into measured 3/4 cup cider until mostly smooth.

Now add dry ingredients to butter mixture in three additions, alternating with cider and sour cream mixture in two additions.

Start and finish with dry ingredients. Mix on low speed only until flour is almost incorporated each time.

Once final flour addition goes in, stop mixer while you can still see a few pale streaks and finish folding with a flexible spatula. Don’t skip this little bit of restraint!

Overmixing develops more gluten and can take cake from soft and tender to unnecessarily chewy.

Spoon batter into prepared Bundt pan and spread it evenly around center tube. Give pan two gentle taps against counter to settle any large hidden air pockets, but do not pound it like it owes you money.

Batter should fill pan comfortably with enough room for cake to rise. Place pan on center oven rack and bake at 350°F for 45 to 55 minutes. Start checking around 43 minutes if your Bundt pan is dark metal, since darker pans can bake edges more quickly.

Look for several doneness cues rather than trusting timer alone. Top should be golden brown, surface should spring back when pressed lightly, and edges should begin pulling away from pan by a tiny amount. Insert a long wooden skewer into one of thickest sections.

It should emerge clean or with a few moist crumbs but no streaks of wet batter. If you prefer using an instant-read thermometer, center of cake will generally be around 200°F to 205°F when fully baked.

If top is browning before middle is ready, loosely place a piece of foil over pan for final 5 to 10 minutes.

Place baked cake in pan on a wire rack and let it cool for 12 to 15 minutes. Do not turn it out immediately because very hot cake is tender enough to tear, but do not leave it sitting in pan for an hour either because cooling sugar can begin sticking to all those decorative grooves.

After about 15 minutes, gently loosen outer and inner edges anywhere you can reach with a thin silicone spatula or blunt knife, place a cooling rack over pan, then flip everything confidently in one motion. Lift Bundt pan slowly. This is always my little “please behave” moment!

While cake is still warm, brush remaining 1/4 cup reduced cider over surface a little at a time. Let each layer soak in before brushing on more rather than pouring everything over at once.

Wait about 5 minutes, then brush surface with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Stir granulated sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl, then sprinkle and gently press cinnamon sugar over warm cake.

Rotate cake as you work so ridges and sides get some love too. Some sugar will fall onto rack, which is perfectly normal. Any recipe claiming otherwise has clearly never met gravity.

Let cake cool for at least another 45 minutes before slicing. Warm cake tastes fantastic, but crumb finishes setting as it cools, so cutting too early can make slices look damp or compressed.

Once it reaches room temperature, use a serrated knife and gentle sawing motion for neat slices.

Serving Suggestions

This apple cider cake is excellent at room temperature when cinnamon sugar has settled into a thin, slightly crisp coating and apple flavor has had time to become more pronounced.

Serve thick slices with freshly whipped cream if you want something light and creamy beside spiced cake. Whipped cream with only a little sugar works especially well because cake already brings plenty of sweetness.

For dessert, warm individual slices for about 10 to 15 seconds in microwave and add a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. Cold ice cream melting into warm cider cake is exactly as dangerous to portion control as it sounds!

A spoonful of lightly sweetened mascarpone or crème fraîche works nicely for a dinner-party presentation, especially if you add a few very thin fresh apple slices alongside it.

For afternoon coffee, serve cake completely plain with hot coffee, black tea, chai, or a cold glass of milk. Cinnamon sugar finish already provides enough decoration that it does not need a blizzard of frosting.

If you are serving it for brunch, arrange slices on a platter with fresh apples, grapes, toasted pecans, or walnuts. Keep accompaniments simple so cider flavor remains star!!

This apple cider cake delivers everything I want from an apple dessert without needing to peel, core, and chop a mountain of fruit: concentrated cider flavor, buttery brown sugar crumb, fragrant cinnamon and nutmeg, golden edges, and a sparkly cinnamon sugar coating that makes even a plain slice look inviting!!

Hungry for more feel-good meals? Explore these 21 Anti-Inflammatory Breakfast Recipes for a nourishing start and 10 Anti-Inflammatory Dinner Recipes for delicious evenings that make healthy eating easy!