Fall is more than just pumpkins. Did that just sound like blasphemy?! Not that I don’t love me ALL the pumpkin things. You know I do. But fall is also all about the apples for me. Fresh, crisp, perfect apples. Especially of the honey crisp variety now and then, if you’re lucky. (They’re my fave but they’re so expensive so I try to limit myself just a tad bit!) I eat an apple every day. Yup, every single day. Forget the doctor, I just think they’re delicious. When I was pregnant with J, in fact, I switched to eating two apples a day. I had my daily afternoon snack apple as usual and then after dinner, all I really wanted was another apple. And you can’t say no to a pregnancy craving, so I happily gave in. But when fall comes, and the honey crisp apples appear in my grocery store, I get a little giddy. And I sometimes go back to two apples a day. Can’t resist! But this cake. This chocolate chip apple cake can happily replace my apple habit anytime! In fact, when I make this cake, I eat IT twice a day and I don’t miss my daily apple at all. It’s got my beloved honey crisp apples plus applesauce to bring home the apple flavor. Plus walnuts (or pecans, whichever you prefer) for some crunch. Oh, and chocolate chips. Plenty of chocolate chips scattered throughout this yummy cake. Can’t forget the chocolate! Now, I’ve got some notes and substitutions coming up for this recipe. Just tryin’ to be helpful. If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.
Recipe Notes:
Flour: I use white whole wheat flour, but you can substitute all-purpose flour if that’s what you use. Nuts: I use walnuts, but you can substitute pecans. Sifting: I’ve made this cake without sifting the flour and other dry ingredients. It turned out just fine. It’s a bit lighter, probably, with the sifting, but if you’re not picky, you can skip that step and just mix the dry ingredients together before adding them to the wet. Apples: I prefer to use honey crisp apples, but any sweet red baking apple will do. Chocolate sauce: Drizzling the cake with chocolate sauce is optional. This cake is plenty sweet enough on its own if you want to skip it. I included a link to the homemade chocolate sauce I love in the notes of the recipe card as well if you want to use it.
Finally a pro tip on working with bundt pans. You must butter and flour your Bundt pan really, really well. Don’t go spraying it with cooking spray and expect a lovely cake to turn right out of the pan. No, no, no. It will stick and you will be sad when you finally pry the cake away from the pan and it’s all mangled. So instead, smear some butter all over the pan - don’t forget the middle of the Bundt pan too. I like to use a paper towel or just the butter wrapper and make sure to wipe every nook and cranny. Then sprinkle some flour all around the bottom of your bundt pan and keep turning it to shake the pan around to get the flour evenly distributed up and down all the sides. And the middle; don’t forget the middle. Do this and you’ll be rewarded with a perfect final cake. (And even if an apple chunk or two gets stuck, it’s easy to put back on the cake.) Last thing, some ideas on storing extras, if you happen to have some.
Storage Tips:
This cake will keep, covered, at room temperature for 3-4 days. It will keep in the refrigerator for another 3 or so days. You can also freeze extras of this cake (if they aren’t frosted or drizzled with anything) for up to 3 months.
Oh, and I redid the photos when I made the new video for this recipe, but I wanted to keep this photograph below from my original photo shoot. You can really see how loaded with apple chunks and chocolate chips this cake is! Need some other apple inspiration? Check out my slow cooker apple butter, apple butternut squash muffins and easy healthy apple crisp stacks. Apple love all the way! Celebrate apple season with me and bake this cake! Enjoy! XO, Kathryn P.S. What are you some of your favorite fall traditions? Are there any favorite fall foods you make every year? Leave me a comment below and let me know! Sifting: I’ve made this cake without sifting the flour and other dry ingredients. It turned out just fine. It’s a bit lighter, probably, with the sifting, but if you’re not picky, you can skip that step and just mix the dry ingredients together before adding them to the wet. Apples: I prefer to use honey crisp apples, but any sweet red baking apple will do. You must butter and flour your Bundt pan very, very well or the cake will stick. Smear softened butter around all the edges of your pan (including the middle), then add some flour and shake it around until everything is very well coated. Drizzling the cake with chocolate sauce is optional. This cake is plenty sweet enough on its own if you want to skip it. Here’s the homemade chocolate sauce I use. Storage: This cake will keep at room temperature for 3-4 days. It will keep in the fridge for another 3 or so days. You can also freeze extras of this cake (if they aren’t frosted or drizzled with anything) for up to 3 months.
