A recipe for sourdough apple cake: a moist and delicious cake made with shredded apples and your sourdough starter.
Table of contents
❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe
- Super cozy. Fall means apples, and baking, and spices, and cozy afternoons in the kitchen. And this recipe is the embodiment of all of these things.
- The yummiest way to use your sourdough starter. (Ever!)
- The cake is moist and tender with just the right amount of fall spices, and plenty of fresh apples, and not too sweet. The frosting is somewhere between buttercream and a true cream cheese frosting, with a hint of apple spice flavor.
🧂 Ingredients
This is an overview of the ingredients. You’ll find the full measurements and instructions in the printable recipe at the bottom of the page.
You’ll need the following for this spiced fall cake:
- butter unsalted
- vegetable oil
- sugar
- eggs
- molasses
- boiled cider
- flour
- powdered ginger
- cinnamon
- cloves
- allspice
- salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- grated apples
- sourdough starter
For the frosting
- cream cheese
- butter
- powdered sugar
- boiled cider
- salt
🥣 Equipment
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- hand mixer
- mixing bowl
- 13 x 9 pan
🍴Instructions
Step One: Make the cake batter
This is an easy recipe, and as long as you have an electric mixer of some sort, it won’t take you long to make. Start by creaming the butter, sugar, oil, and eggs together in a large mixing bowl. This will take a few minutes, at least three minutes of beating on medium speed. Add the molasses and the boiled cider and mix.
Then, in a separate large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add them to the butter/ sugar/ oil/ egg mixture and blend on low until just combined.
Finally, add the discarded sourdough starter and the grated apple and mix until everything is thoroughly combined.
Step Two: Bake and Frost
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake. The cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean and the edges are slightly browned.
Allow the apple cake to cool, right in the pan, for a few hours. You want it completely cool before you frost it.
Cut into squares and serve directly out of the pan. Easy!
🥫 Storage instructions
If you have leftovers, keep them in the fridge so the frosting stays fresh. It keeps very well for a few days if kept tightly wrapped.
🔍 FAQs
No; it really doesn’t. If you’ve never baked something sweet before with your sourdough starter, don’t worry. There will be no sour taste. There is a (very) slight tanginess, similar to baking with sour cream or Greek yogurt.
👩🏻🍳 Expert tips
Using boiled cider: If you have ever baked with boiled apple cider, you know what an amazing apple-spice flavor it lends to everything. But if you don’t have it on hand, that’s okay. You can still make this cake.
A few options, in case you don’t have any:
- Make your own boiled cider by simply reducing apple cider in a pot on the stove until it reduces by 1/8. (You can find full instructions here. It’s easy but takes a long, long time.)
- Substitute with half apple sauce and half molasses (adding to the molasses already in the recipe).
- For the cream cheese frosting, simply leave it out. No big deal.
However, it’s a truly delicious and versatile ingredient for all your fall baking and I encourage you to make some or buy some to have on hand up until Christmas.
Grating apples:
Of course you could do it by hand with a big box grater. Or if that just feels like too much, use the shredding disc of your food processor. Cut the apples into chunks and it will do the work for you in a matter of seconds. Yes, they will technically be shredded, not grated. That’s okay.
📘 Related Recipes
🍂 Related: 11 Delicious Sourdough Recipes for Fall! 🍁
- You’ll love sourdough lemon cake, a quick and easy loaf cake that’s welcome any time of the year and makes a respectable breakfast.
- Sourdough chocolate cake is another easy cake served right out of the pan.
- Sourdough coffee cake has delicious fall spices and uses 100% pantry stapes.
🍽 Serve it with
Having a cozy fall party? Try these recipes too:
- Apple and Pear Sangria with Caramel
- Buttermilk Fried Chicken
- Redskin Potato Salad
- Easy Homemade Biscuits
📖 Here’s the recipe
Sourdough Apple Cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- ½ cup butter unsalted
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1½ cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¼ cup molasses
- ¼ cup boiled cider
- 2½ cups flour
- 1 tablespoon powdered ginger
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 medium apples grated
- 1 cup sourdough starter discard/ unfed state
For the frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 6 tablespoons butter melted
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon boiled cider
- pinch salt
Instructions
Make the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350° with a rack in center. Prepare a 13 x 9 pan with non-stick baking spray.
- Beat the butter, oil, sugar, and eggs together with an electric mixer for 3-5 minutes in a large mixing bowl, until fluffy and lightened in color. Add the molasses and boiled cider and mix.
- Combine the dry ingredients (flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda) in a separate large mixing bowl and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir by hand or with the mixer on low until just combined. Don't overmix.
- Add the grated apple and sourdough starter to the batter and mix by hand until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs. Place pan on cooling rack and allow the cake to cool to room temperature in the pan, for at least an hour.
Make the frosting
- Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth with an electric mixer. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and whip until the frosting is smooth and fluffy. Add a pinch of salt and the boiled cider and mix thoroughly.
- Frost the cake once cool and serve directly out of the pan. Refrigerate any leftovers.
Where can I get the sourdough starter receipe? Thanks
hi harvetta, follow these instructions https://heartscontentfarmhouse.com/sourdough-starter-recipe/ 🙂
I’d like to make this as a layer cake. Do you think it will work ok? Any comments or suggestions?
hmmm… it’s not super sturdy because it’s so moist! I don’t know! Please let mee know how it goes if you do!
I just made this cake and it is really good. I started nibbling before it even cooled off because the fragrance is so enticing.
so happy you enjoyed it! its one of our favorite fall sourdough recipes 😊
I’m going to make this for a birthday celebration pans am eager to try the boiled cider. What type of molasses do you recommend? Will any type work?
I use grandma’s brand, but any brand will work. but i. wouldn’t use the “robust” kind 🙂
Can you ferment the batter before baking?
I tried this today, and it was a huge success. I had to tweak a couple of ingredients (no boiled cider, so I added a good squeeze of golden syrup, and I used more allspice to make up for the lack of extra ginger and cloves), but the flavour is still lovely! And the cake is moist and fluffy. Thank you for this lovely recipe!
we love apple cake at our house! Can’t wait to try this out
Very delicious cake here…I hadn’t even heard of boiled cider before but wow, it sure infuses a lot of flavour into that cake.
This cake is such a perfect treat!
Katie, I absolutely LOVE the flavors of this cake. However, in the ingredients list I see 1/2 C vegetable oil. But the directions never mention adding that oil. Is it a mistake or should the oil be mixed in w/ the butter, sugar, & eggs (aka ‘wet’ ingredients)?
marsha! yes oil with the sugar butter eggs! i’m fixing it now, thank you!!! 🙂
These are a perfect treat. The only substitution I made to the batter was using molasses and applesauce instead of the boiled cider. I baked in an 8×8, cupcake and mini cupcake tins. The children and husband didn’t even wait for them to be iced they ate them warm straight from the oven. So good! I highly recommend this recipe for using up sourdough discard.
gabby I’m so glad you liked them! I will have to try cupcakes!
Hi! I don’t have apple cider either… what measurements of applesauce and molasses did you use to replace that? thanks!
Can I use water if I have no cider? It is hard to get out in my area. I would recommend ordering the boiled cider if you can swing it!
hi Francia, yes the cake will still work, it just won’t have as much apple flavor!
Delicious cake and frosting. Had a half gallon of cider and couldn’t find boiled cider so I made my own per your link. Thank you!
Jill I’m so glad you liked it! I made it again this weekend too!