Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Cake is a scrumptious cake packed with Fall flavor! Creamy, moist, and perfect for breakfast, snack, or an evening sweet treat!
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Cream Cheese Apple Cake
The key to success with this cake is adding the cream cheese into the cake batter. It adds such a tasty moistness to the cake.
Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Cake is everything you could possibly want in an apple cake. It’s super easy to make and tastes absolutely delicious. It’s a great way to bake with those freshly-picked apples you may have on hand, or from the grocery store. Plus – this cake is so good – you might even want to serve it year round instead of saving it for Fall only.
The overall taste and texture of this cake can best be described as cheesecake meets coffee cake, with an apple cinnamon addition. Sounds incredible, right? Perfectly sweet and one of the best apple cakes around, be sure to give it a try!
Why this recipe works
This cake recipe is a blog favorite and one that has been shared too many times to count. Here are just a few reasons why its a must try
- All the Fall flavors- apples, cinnamon, and nuts go into this cake which are all such Fall staple ingredients
- Easy- you can have this cake ready to serve in about an hour. Yep, that is from start to finish. Not bad, right?
- Uses Pantry Staples- you’ll notice the ingredients are pretty straight forward. In fact, you may already have everything on hand
- Perfect for any occasion- whether you make during the Fall season, winter months, Spring, or Summer, this cake fits any season and occasion
Ingredients Needed for Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Cake
For full recipe amounts and instructions, scroll below to the printable recipe card
- Apples– peeled, cored, and diced
- Lemon Juice
- Sugar
- Butter
- Cream Cheese
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Flour– all-purpose
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Brown Sugar
- Ground Cinnamon
- Pecans– chopped
How to make Apple Cream Cheese Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 baking pan.
- In a small bowl, toss the diced apple with the lemon juice. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, and cream cheese.
- Add in the eggs one at a time, then vanilla extract. Mix well.
- In another small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add dry ingredient mixture to the egg mixture.
- Fold in the chopped apples.
- Pour batter into the greased baking pan.
- In one of the small bowls used earlier, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Sprinkle mixture on top of cake evenly.
- Place pan in preheated oven and bake for about 45-55 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean once inserted in middle of cake. Remove from oven and cut desired size piece. Enjoy!
What apples to use
For the best pies, crisps, and baked treats, apples need to be firm enough to hold their own during the cooking process. We call these apples “baking apples” and to name a few, they include Braeburn, Cortland, Honey Gold, Jonathan, Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, Haralson, and Newtown Pippin. Softer types of apples won’t stand up to the baking. My go-to apple is typically Granny Smith, but feel free to use any of the listed ones above.
Tips for the best Apple Cake
- Allow the cream cheese to soften so it blends into the batter easily
- Make sure all ingredients are fresh. Sometimes if the baking powder isn’t fresh, you won’t have good rise/texture.
- Use a firm apple so you don’t get mushy apples throughout.
- Mix until just combined. Over-mixing will change the texture and result in a dense cake.
- Allow cake to cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing desired piece size.
Serving Suggestions
This cake can be served as a tasty dessert, or feel free to serve for a breakfast/brunch treat. After-all, it does have apples in it, right?! This cake pairs perfectly with a cup of coffee, cold glass of milk, some warm apple cider, or even a mimosa (I won’t judge, ha-ha)
Love apples? Check out these other apple recipes
Apple Fritter Bread– sweet, soft, quick-bread filled with apples and sweet brown sugar cinnamon
Incredible Apple Cider Donuts– cakey, dense, and intensely flavored. Baked, not fried, these fall treats come together quickly and easily
Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread– fluffy pull-apart bread is layered with warm cinnamon apples for a fun and irresistible treat!
Easy Apple Cinnamon Crumb Cake– Chunky, soft bits of apple mixed throughout a moist, light, and fluffy cake; finished off with a crumb topping.
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Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Cake
Ingredients
- 2 apples *peeled/cored/diced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups flour *all purpose
- 2 teaspoon baking power
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup pecans *chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 x 13 baking pan.
- In a small bowl, toss the diced apple with the lemon juice. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, and cream cheese.
- Add in the eggs one at a time, then vanilla extract. Mix well.
- In another small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Slowly add dry ingredient mixture to the egg mixture.
- Fold in the chopped apples.
- Pour batter into the greased baking pan.
- In one of the small bowls used earlier, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans.
- Sprinkle mixture on top of cake evenly.
- Place pan in preheated oven and bake for about 45-55 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean once inserted in middle of cake.
- Remove from oven and cut desired size piece. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe updated 10/19/21
Alice M. says
The cake is very good, however 3 teaspoons cinnamon for the topping is a bit too much. It overwhelms the taste of the cake. I would use 1 or 1/2 tsp.
Kristin says
Glad you enjoyed the cake! Good tip on the topping!!
Randy says
Which are the best apples for this recipe?
Kristin says
Any type works, however, I really prefer the granny smith apples when baking!
Randy says
Can this be frozen for later?
Kristin says
Once baked or before? It freezes perfectly once baked!! If you meant before, I am not sure as I haven’t tried it and don’t know how the apple would do!