A high altitude apple cider sheet cake, frosted with fluffy cinnamon buttercream, and decorated with dried apple slices and cinnamon sugar. Today’s apple cider cake is so moist and flavorful with concentrated apple cider and cozy spices, and the dried apple slices on top make the prettiest decoration! This is a beautiful and easy cake for Thanksgiving or any fall celebration.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for baked apple cider donuts, apple cider cookies, and brown butter crumble apple pie bars.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy to Decorate. This apple sheet cake is the perfect, cozy, fall dessert to make if you’re not too sure of your skills with stacking and frosting layer cakes. And the dried apple slices couldn’t be simpler to make, for a beautiful edible garnish.
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 Cider Cake
- Apple Cider. Apple cider, not apple juice, is important for the best flavor in this apple cider sheet cake. You’ll be reducing 3 cups of cider down to just 3/4 of a cup before adding it to the cake batter. Reduced apple cider shouldn’t be confused with boiled cider, which is much more concentrated apple syrup.
- Flour. Either all-purpose flour or cake flour work great in this recipe. Cake flour will yield a slightly lighter, more tender cake crumb.
- Baking Soda. Reacts with the acid in the other ingredients, leavening the cake and making it rise.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances flavors.
- Spices. A cozy blend of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and ginger adds warmth.
- Sugar. You can use either light or dark brown sugar to add sweetness, moisture and a subtle hint of molasses flavor.
- Applesauce. This adds lots of moisture, and a little more apple flavor. Be sure to use unsweetened applesauce.
- Vegetable Oil + Whole Milk. Moisture.
- Eggs. Add richness, moisture and strength.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
Cinnamon Buttercream
- Butter. Use unsalted butter, or omit the extra salt in the recipe.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the frosting.
- Meringue Powder. Adds stability and improves the texture.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Cinnamon + Vanilla. Flavor.
- Cinnamon-Sugar. For a finishing touch, I sprinkled the top of the cake with some cinnamon sugar. The black specks you see are ground vanilla bean.
Instructions
Cake
- Pour the 3 cups of apple cider into a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then continue to boil until it’s reduced down to 3/4 cup. Let cool to room temperature. You can make the reduced cider several days in advance, keeping it refrigerated until needed.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with parchment paper, or spray with non-stick baking spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
- Add the reduced apple cider, brown sugar, applesauce, oil, milk, eggs and vanilla, and whisk until combined, about 10-15 seconds.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt and cinnamon, mixing on low to combine. Add the vanilla.
- Increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy. Add the milk as needed for desired consistency.
- Turn the cooled cake out onto a serving board, and frost the top and sides with the buttercream. Decorate with the dried apple slices, and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar.
Dried Apples
- Combine the water and lemon juice in a bowl.
- Thinly slice the apples (unpeeled), about 1/8 inch thick. Leave the core intact, but remove the seeds. Soak the apple slices in the water and lemon juice for 10 minutes, then drain and pat dry.
- Lay the apple slices in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Dry the apples in a 150-degree Fahrenheit oven (or 175, if that’s as low as your oven goes), for about 1 1/2 – 2 hours, turning every 30 minutes. The apples will have the dry and chewy texture of dried fruit, and as they dry, they will shrink in size, with the edges curling into ruffles.
- You can make the dried apple slices one day in advance, storing them loosely covered at room temperature until ready to decorate your cake.
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
Is reduced cider the same thing as boiled cider?
The reduced cider that we’re making today is not the same thing as boiled cider, which is also marketed as apple cider concentrate. Boiled cider or apple cider concentrate is a much more concentrated syrup, made by boiling apple cider down to about 1/8 its original volume. King Arthur Baking has a good article on how to make boiled cider.
For my apple cider sheet cake, I’m simply reducing apple cider down to about 1/4 its original volume. This will concentrate the flavor quite a bit, so that the apple flavor really comes through in the cake.
What are the black specks on top of the frosting?
I sprinkled a little ground vanilla bean on top.
Will this recipe work as a layer cake?
Yes, it will. You can divide the batter between three 8-inch cake pans for a layer cake.
How should I store apple cider sheet cake?
Leftover cake should be stored in an airtight container or cake carrier, at room temperature, for up to 3 days.
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High Altitude Cinnamon Apple Cider Sheet Cake
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
- 9×13 Baking Dish
Ingredients
Apple Cider Cake
- 3 cups apple cider, reduced to 3/4 cup
- 3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- 1 ½ cups light or dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- â…” cup whole milk
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon Buttercream
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp meringue powder (optional)
- â…› tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1-2 tbsp milk or cream, only if needed for desired consistency
- 1 tbsp cinnamon-sugar, for sprinkling on top
Dried Apple Slices
- 1 cup water
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 large apples
Instructions
Cake
- Pour the 3 cups of apple cider into a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then continue to boil until it's reduced down to 3/4 cup. Let cool to room temperature. You can make the reduced cider several days in advance, keeping it refrigerated until needed.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 9×13 inch baking pan with parchment paper, or spray with non-stick baking spray.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
- Add the reduced apple cider, brown sugar, applesauce, oil, milk, eggs and vanilla, and whisk until combined, about 10-15 seconds.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the center oven rack for about 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Set the pan on a cooling rack, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel, and cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute.
- Gradually add the powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt and cinnamon, mixing on low to combine. Add the vanilla.
- Increase speed to medium and whip for 4-5 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally, until very light and fluffy. Add the milk as needed for desired consistency.
- Turn the cooled cake out onto a serving board, and frost the top and sides with the buttercream. Decorate with the dried apple slices, and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar.
Dried Apples
- Combine the water and lemon juice in a bowl.
- Thinly slice the apples (unpeeled), about 1/8 inch thick. Leave the core intact, but remove the seeds. Soak the apple slices in the water and lemon juice for 10 minutes, then drain and pat dry.
- Lay the apple slices in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Dry the apples in a 150-degree Fahrenheit oven (or 175, if that's as low as your oven goes), for about 1 1/2 – 2 hours, turning every 30 minutes. The apples will have the dry and chewy texture of dried fruit, and as they dry, they will shrink in size, with the edges curling into ruffles.
- You can make the dried apple slices one day in advance, storing them loosely covered at room temperature until ready to decorate your cake.
Will this recipe need to be modified for a three layer six inch cake?
Yes, you should cut the recipe in half for that size cake.
Hi- this might be a weird question but I am thinking of making this cake as a double layer sheet cake to feed more people – do you think that would work- is it even possible to stack two sheet cakes? ( I would plan on doing a frosting layer in the middle) 🥰
It’s certainly possible to make a layered sheet cake!
Hi! I’m wondering if I could use GF flour for this recipe? Like “cup for cup” or something similar. I’m still getting used to high altitude baking and not sure if that would make a difference. Thank you!!
It may work, but I can never say for sure, since I don’t usually test my recipes with GF flour. Sometimes those flour blends require a little more moisture.