This apples walnuts and honey cake is the perfect Fall dessert. Cake is prepared with seasoned apple slices with cinnamon and brown sugar, chopped walnuts, and batter is sweetened with honey and baked to perfection with more apple slices on top!!
Apples have been one my favorite fruits since I was a little girl. My grandfather loved them so much that everyone joked I had inherited my love of apples from him. Thankfully my kids seem to love them as much as I do. My little girl calls them ‘Babbles’ lol.
About 2 weeks ago we had a playdate with a friend of mine and her 2 children. They shared with us apples from New York that the kids’ grandfather had brought over for Rosh Hashanah. Those were some of the best apples I have had in a loooong time. The next day I decided to make this Apple, Walnuts and Honey Cake!!
Old Apple Cake Recipe With a Twist
We used to prepare this cake recipe at home anytime we had lots of apples and we thought they’d go bad before we got to eat them. It is funny how fruits back home had a very short shelf life. If you didn’t consume them within few days, they’d just go bad overnight. While that is inconvenient, because you have to shop a little more often to keep fruits & vegetables in stock, those are also the best tasting fresh produce to buy.
So when we prepared this cake at home, we mixed the batter, added in cut apples, cinnamon, sugar (honey was hard to come by sometimes) and walnuts. Baked it and voila!!! If tidbits of history don’t bother you, let me tell you that we did whisking of cake batter with a fork in bowl. We didn’t have fancy electrical mixers or any of those cool tool that make our life so easy in the kitchen.
The cake tasted delicious but it looked a little plain on the outside. So I decided to add additional sliced apples on top to highlight the apples in this recipe:).
Apples, Walnuts, Honey Cake Recipe Notes
I would like to share some additional tips here in addition to the recipe instructions below.
- Baking dish is 9X13. Adjust baking time accordingly if you use a different size baking dish.
- You can use sugar or any sweetener of your choice instead of honey.
- Several Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries add syrup on top similar cakes, after cake has cooled down. I somehow have lost my taste for very sweet desserts. This is sweet enough for me and my family seemed happy with it. However, feel free to increase amount of honey, sugar or add syrup on top as desired.
- If you think slicing the apples and coating them for the topping will take you a long time to prepare, then you can do that step ahead of time.
- Don’t pick sour apples for this cake, they have to be sweet.
- If you are allergic to nuts or walnuts specifically, please don’t include them in the cake.
- I have replaced walnuts with pecans when I didn’t have walnuts handy and the cake still tastes amazing.
- Bake in the middle of the oven rack so the apples don’t burn on top or the bottom of the cake doesn’t get a bitter flavor.
- It takes me 55 minutes from beginning to end to make this cake. I’m not including any time for cooling in the cooling rack in those 55 minutes. The way I allocate my time is as follows. First 10 minutes, chop apples and prepare batter as well as pre-heat oven. Then I place the batter to bake for 8-10 minutes. During that time, I prepare the apples for topping. Get the dish out of the oven, place apples on top and sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon (about 5 minutes), then place back in the oven for about 30 minutes.
Apples, Walnuts, Honey Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 2 apples, chopped
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 0.5 cup brown sugar
- 3 cups all purpose
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 0.5 tsp baking soda
- pinch sea salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 ozs honey
- 1.5 cups milk
- 1 butter stick 8 tbsps or 113 grams
- 5 oz walnuts (chopped)
Topping
- 3 apples, sliced
- 0.5 cup light brown sugar or brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Peel, core and chop 2 apples. Put them in a bowl, add brown sugar and cinnamon, mix and put them aside.
- Mix flour with baking powder, baking soda and a pinch of salt put it aside as well.
- Soften the butter and coat the baking dish with it. Put the rest aside for the batter.
- Turn oven on at 375, pre-heat.
- In a big mixing bowl, start whisking the eggs for about 2 minutes. Add milk slowly, vanilla extract and honey. Start adding the flour mix in slowly while you are still whisking. (You can use an electrical hand mixer or your favorite kitchen appliance to make batter).
- Add the softened butter and mix a bit more.
- At this point I don't use the electrical mixer anymore. Add the coated apples with brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the chopped walnuts and fold everything into the batter.
- Pour onto the baking dish. Place in oven for about 8-10 minutes until the cake rises but it's not fully baked.
- During the 8 minutes cake is in the oven, let's prepare the topping of the cake. Cut, peel and slice the apples.
- Mix the light brown sugar and cinnamon you put aside for topping. Mix with the thinly sliced apples.
- Get baking dish out of the oven, close the oven so it doesn't lose heat. Cover the top of the cake with the sliced apples. Place back in the oven for another 30 minutes.
- When baked, remove baking dish from oven and place in a cooling rack. Serve as desired with ice cream or other fruits and walnuts, plus a honey drizzle too.
Video
Notes
- I used a 9X13 baking dish. Please note that your baking time might vary slightly if the dimensions of the baking dish are different because cake will be thicker or thinner so it might need a different baking time. Adjust accordingly.
- Cake is not too fluffy, it’s supposed to be that way because of the amount of apples inside the cake. It’s a rather heavy cake (weight wise). It’s best served warmed.
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
See below some process pictures I took while preparing batter and getting the cake ready to bake. It’s hard to take great pictures in the process, but thought these might help. Let me know if you have any questions:). I can’t wait till I have a video setup so I can add videos to my recipes and show the instructions in an easier way.
If you would like to save this recipe for later, please save the below image in Pinterest.
Other Dessert Recipes
Check out more dessert recipes from my blog below. Thank you:)
Lathiya
Wow, the cake looks fabulous and I love all the flavors in it. With the apples, honey and the crunch of walnuts is perfect.
Lizet Bowen
Sonila, I can’t wait to try this cake! I’m waiting to go apple picking and using those apples. It looks and sounds amazing!
Sonila
Thank you Lizet:)). Hope you like it! By the way, I was wondering the other day how it tastes if I serve it warm, topped with ice cream, more walnuts and drizzle with dulce de leche. I know you are a dulce de leche fan:))
Mean Green Chef
You’ve outdone yourself on this Fall Cake amazing flavor combinations and perfect for gracing any holiday dinner table!
Sonila
Thank you Angela, coming from you it means so much more:).
Nart | Cooking with Nart
This apple cake looks perfect. Love how you arrange the apples. Looking at your pictures, I can literally smell the cinnamon….mmmm
Simone
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love apples. Your recipe looks & sounds delicious… perfect for the Fall season! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Jacqueline Debono
Apple is my favourite fruit for cakes, pies and pastries! This cake looks and sounds wonderful! I love that it has honey and walnuts in it. Going to give it a go this weekend!
Sonila
Thank you Jacqui:).
Beth
This is the perfect cake idea right now, as I have lots of apples. I am so happy that you have made this cake not too sweet. That suits our taste as well.
Ai | Ai made it for you
Apples are one of my favorite fruits too! Looks divine! This cake while it’s still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream? Yummmmmm!
Harriet
I think I’ll be making this for dessert this weekend. I going to serve it up warm with a scoop of ice cream.
Sonila
Yes, it was perfect warm:))). Thank you for trying it out Harriet!
Enriqueta E Lemoine
Just saved this apple walnut cake on my dessert board on Pinterest! Love it!
Sonila
Thank you so much Enriqueta:)
Andrea Minski
I want to prepare this apples walnut cakes at home ¡Happy week!
Alejandra Graf
Todo mi tipo de pastel! Me encantan todos eso sabores.
Sonila
Muchas gracias Alejandra:)
Erika
This cake is gorgeous. It looks and sounds delicious. I’m putting this on my list for Thanksgiving, yum!
Sonila
Thank you Erika!! It’s very simple, the sliced apples on top give it the special look.
Leticia Esteves
Definitivamente no hay como usar las frutas e ingredientes de la temporada. Con ingredientes de calidad y ese cariño que tú le pones a tus recetas, nada puede ir mal!
Sonila
Ayy Leticia, muchas gracias!!!!
Aracelis
I love this apple, walnuts cake recipe! I want to try it!
Sonila
Thank you Ara:)
Blanca D
I just love how you can make such a beautiful cake with apples. They look so pretty and yummy! you can’t go wrong when using seasonal fruits and nuts.
Sonila
Thank you Blanca:)). Yes anytime I try fresh, seasonal fruits it reminds me of back home where everything was in and out in few weeks, then next to the next fruit or vegetable. Just perfect!!