High Altitude Apple Pie Cake with Cinnamon Cookie Crumble

Today’s high altitude apple pie cake has four layers of spiced apple cider cake with spiced buttercream, apple pie filling, and cinnamon cookie crumbles on top. This showstopper apple cake has all the flavors and textures of your favorite apple crumb pie in a completely gorgeous dessert.

Looking for more apple recipes for your fall baking? You’ll love these apple spice crumb muffins, caramel apple crumble with bourbon toffee sauce, and baked apple cider doughnuts.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Perfect Fall Flavors. There are so many incredible flavors and textures in this cake. The apple cider cake is soft, moist and perfectly spiced. The homemade apple filling is tart and a little sweet, and just delicious layered with the cake and spiced buttercream. And for a little crunch, cinnamon sugar cookies crumbled on top of the cake add the best texture. Just before serving, drizzle the cake with apple cider concentrate for even more apple flavor.

Everything Can Be Prepped Ahead. There are a few steps to baking and putting together this apple pie cake. But you can prep everything ahead of time, making assembly quick and easy. See the FAQs section below for prepping suggestions.

Tastes Like Apple Pie. I mean, what says fall more than a deep dish apple crumb pie? But if you’re more of a cake person than a pie person, this apple pie cake is for you.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Apple Pie Filling

• Apples. You’ll need two pounds of apples (about 3-4 large apples) for this recipe. You can use any variety you like, but I chose Gala, since I wanted apples that would break down into a chunky applesauce for filling the cake.
• Lemon Juice. Adds tartness to balance the sweetness.
• Sugar. Dark brown sugar adds sweetness and a hint of molasses flavor to enhance the apples.
• Spices. Cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves add warm, spicy flavor to the apples.

Cake

• Apple Cider Cake. I based today’s recipe off my original, high altitude apple cider cake recipe. It’s soft, moist and perfectly spiced, flavored with apple cider concentrate.

TIP: Apple cider concentrate is a key ingredient to a strong apple flavor in apple baked goods. You can make your own by boiling down apple cider, or buy it here.

Buttercream

• Butter. I use unsalted butter in my buttercream recipes, so if you use salted butter, you should omit the extra salt in the recipe.
• Powdered Sugar. Also called confectioner’s sugar. The powdered sugar thickens and sweetens the buttercream.
• Meringue Powder. Adds stability and improves the texture.
• Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Spices. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves add spicy notes that are just delicious in this cake.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.

Crumble

• Cinnamon Sugar Cookies. In my perfect sugar cookies post, I have a delicious variation of iced cinnamon sugar cookies. These ended up being perfect for the crumble on top of the cake.
• Apple Cider Concentrate. To really enhance the apple flavor in this cake, drizzle a little bit of the concentrate over the crumbled cookies just before serving the cake.

Instructions

Make the apple pie filling.

• Peel and core the apples, then chop them into 1/2 inch pieces.
• In a saucepan, combine the apples with the lemon juice, water, brown sugar and spices. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples are very soft and the liquid is nearly evaporated.
• Let the apple filling cool slightly, then transfer to a container and refrigerate until well chilled.

Bake the cake.

• Preheat the oven to 350 F, and spray the bottoms of four 8-inch cake pans with non-stick baking spray.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the remaining liquid ingredients.
• Add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients and whisk until combined, then divide the batter evenly between the four pans.
• Bake the cakes on the center oven rack for about 20-25 minutes, until the tops spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Set the pans on a cooling rack, covered loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.

TIP: Be sure to see the FAQs section below for tips on prepping the filling, cake and buttercream in advance to save time when you’re ready to assemble your cake.

Make the buttercream.

• In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt and spices.
• With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar mixture by spoonfuls, until combined. It will still be clumpy. Add the vanilla extract.
• Increase the speed to medium (#4/6 on a Kitchen Aid mixer), and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until light and fluffy.

Assemble the cake.

• To assemble the cake, start by placing one of the cake layers on a cake board or cake pedestal. Spread with a thin layer of buttercream, then spread or pipe a “dam” of buttercream around the edge. (The dam of buttercream will hold the apple filling in place.) Spread 1/3 of the apple filling onto the cake, and spread it out evenly so the next cake layer can sit flat on top.
• Repeat stacking and filling the rest of the cake layers with buttercream and apple filling, then place the fourth cake layer on top. Frost the cake all over with a thin crumb coat of buttercream. Chill the cake for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat.
• After chilling the crumb coat, frost the cake all over with a final coat of buttercream (or leave the cake semi-naked, as pictured in today’s post).
• Pile the crumbled cinnamon sugar cookies on top of the cake. Just before serving, drizzle with apple cider concentrate.

TIP: Before assembling your cake, strain any excess liquid from the apple filling through a mesh strainer, to ensure it doesn’t turn your buttercream soupy.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I prep this cake in advance?

Apple Filling. You can make and refrigerate the filling up to 3 days in advance.

Cake. Bake the cakes, let them cool, then wrap each individually in plastic wrap. Keep at room temperature for up to 1 day, or freeze them for 3-6 months. Let the cakes thaw before assembling your cake.

Buttercream. Make the buttercream, and refrigerate in an airtight container or zip storage bag for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3-6 months. Let thaw to a spreadable consistency before assembling and frosting your cake.

Cookies. Bake the cookies, store in an airtight container or zip storage bag, and freeze for up to 3-6 months.

Will canned apple pie filling work?

It should be fine. If there is excess liquid in the can, you should strain it first.

Where can I buy apple cider concentrate?

This is the brand of apple cider concentrate I used in today’s recipe.

What else can I use apple cider concentrate for?

You can use it to bake appledoodles (apple cider cookies) or baked apple cider doughnuts. You can also just drizzle it over the apples in things like apple pie or apple crumble, to really enhance and intensify the flavor of the apples.

What cookies did you use for the crumble topping?

I used these cinnamon sugar cookies (scroll to the end of the post for the recipe variation).

If I don’t have four 8-inch pans, can I bake the cake in two or three pans?

If your pans are three inches high, you can bake this recipe in three pans, but not two pans, or the batter might overflow. I like making four layers, though, to allow more room for the yummy apple filling. If you only have two pans, I recommend just baking half the batter at a time. Let the extra batter sit at room temperature and try not to disturb it or stir it up again when you fill the pans to bake the second batch.

What size pans should I use if I cut this recipe in half?

For a smaller cake, cut cake recipe in half and bake the batter in four 6-inch pans. Today’s photographed cake is a 6-inch cake.

Will this recipe work as a sheet cake?

I haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why not.

Do I need to make any adjustments if I don’t live at high altitude?

You might. Please see this article for guidance on adjusting recipes for various altitudes.

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