Last Updated on September 9, 2026 by Carrie Korem, FNTP
It begins with a pretty darned good cake, moist and sweet with bits of coconut and pecans. Then it adds an extra step. When the cake comes out of the oven, you pour over a mixture of butter, buttermilk, whole cane sugar, and vanilla and let it soak in. The result? A caramel-like buttery outside everyone will fight for.
My friend Anna served this for dessert last week while we were visiting in Monterey. After the first bite, I practically begged her for the recipe. I thought it surely contained white flour and white sugar, but she assured me she’d made it with all the “good stuff.” It’s meant to be served at breakfast, but I think it’s well suited for dessert. You’ll thank me when you try it.
Fresh Apple Cake
Keep in mind – you need to pour the sauce over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. This recipe was published before I began posting only grain-free recipes on my site. For a grain-free version of this cake click here.
Adapted very loosely from Paula Deen.
Ingredients
- 2 cups organic whole cane sugar or sucanat (to read more about this sweetener click here)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups coconut oil
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (freshly ground preferred)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups grated fuji apples (I left the skins on)
- 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Sauce:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup organic whole cane sugar
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and adjust rack to middle position. Stir together whole cane sugar, eggs, oil, orange juice, whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla in a large bowl. Fold in apples, coconut and pecans (if using).
- Pour the batter into a buttered bundt pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours until cake tester comes out clean.
Sauce:
- Put butter, whole cane sugar, buttermilk,vanilla and baking soda in a medium pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, pour butter mixture over hot cake. Let the cake stand for 1 hour and then turn it out onto a cake stand. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Serves 16-20
This cake sounds delicious – moist and flavorful! I can't wait to bake with fresh berries, but I'm sticking with apples for the time being as well. I actually just posted a recipe for apple snack cake on my blog – I don't think I could ever get sick of fresh, crisp apples!
Wonderful cake recipe. Great vibrant photography.
OH MY GAWD!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Wow, that cake looks amazing! Bookmarked it to try after I go apple shopping.
Looks so decadent! Yummy!
Just made the cake…loved it (and my husband too…although he is suspicious of all things whole wheat ;-)).Love your website. I grew up with everything being organic and whole wheat. I just start to appreciate the efforts my mum made. Although her cakes were nowhere near as delicious :-).
Ymamy!! This cake looks fantastic!!
Made this for a group of friends tonight…it was DELICIOUS and all were amazed that it was made with wheat flour, you totally couldn’t tell!
Do you have the calorie/fat intake for this cake?
I don’t have the calorie and fat intake for this cake.
Hi there! Is there a print link for this recipe? Looks divine!
I just put the link in for you. 🙂
Thank you!!! I absolutely love your scone recipe, and I think I’ll be making this cake for my mom when she’s here this weekend! Also, do you happen to have a healthy apple cider doughnut recipe? I grew up with fresh apple cider doughnuts from a cider mill in Kansas, and now that its apple season, I have been craving them! Just thought I’d ask, since all your recipes have been delightful!
How much sugar goes in the cake. I don’t know what 202 means
Sorry about that! The ingredient list had strangely moved up to the line above. I made the edit. It should read – 2 cups sugar.
Oh. my. word. That looks amazing!! How would you recommend I make it gluten free?
I’ll be posting the gluten free version in just a few days. 🙂
Here’s the gf version! https://deliciouslyorganic.net/apple-cake-paleo-grain-free/
Wahooo!! Thank you so much, I can’t wait to try it!
I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
This cake is TO DIE FOR!! It was so good and such a big hit among my family. I made it New Years Eve night and before the next day was over, the cake was alll gone! I have still been craving it ever since!! Will have to try out the gf version one day as well 🙂
Thank you, Carrie, for sharing your awesome and organic recipes!!! <3
Thank you!! I’m so glad you all enjoyed it!
When you say grated apples is chopped ok in food processor?
Chopped apples will lend a bit of a different texture, but it should still taste great.
Also it says in the recipe description you add vanilla to the sauce but how much as it does not say on the ingredient list. And how thick is sauce supposed to be. What your picture looks like does not look like mine
Hmm…I don’t see where it says to add vanilla in the sauce. The batter calls for 1 Tbs. vanilla. Did you make any substitutions in the sauce? The baking soda gives it that bubbly texture.
It says it above the picture of sauce being poured in. No substitutions. It looks yummy. Sauce tasted yummy. Waiting to taste the whole thing. I just grated the apples as stated.
It’s amazing!! Wow so good! Thanks for a great recipe!!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I grew up with a desert called cranberry pudding (not a pudding at all but more like a breads desert). When we ate it we cut it and put it in a bowl and served the just mad hot sauce over the top and giving you the great soaked cake you might be looking for.
Addition to last comment. The sauce we used is 1/2 cup butter, 1cup organic sugar and 1/2 cup cream or evap. Milk.
Hello, I am making this for a fall festival tomorrow. Did you squeeze excess moisture from the apples after grating them? Also, did you use refined or unrefined coconut oil? Thank you!
I did not squeeze the apples, and I used unrefined coconut oil. Enjoy!
This turned out great! Thanks!
Happy to hear! Enjoy! 🙂
Does the sauce require vanilla? Confused by pinterest comment. Thanks
No it doesn’t. Can you please give me a link to the Pinterest comment? I’m not sure which pin you’re referring to. Thanks!
Hi There! I’m planning to make this for a birthday this weekend. I think the vanilla question everyone is confused about comes from your blog post, in the paragraph right above your last photo. It says this: “When the cake comes out of the oven, you pour over a mixture of butter, buttermilk, whole cane sugar, and vanilla and let it soak in. ”
I was browsing the comments looking for an answer to this, too. I can see from your previous replies that sentence is in error and it really is baking soda rather than vanilla that makes the 4th ingredient in the sauce.
In the second paragraph it reads pour mixture of butter buttermilk sugar and vanilla nothing about baking soda…
The baking soda is added in with the butter, sugar and buttermilk as stated in step 3: “Put butter, whole cane sugar, buttermilk, and baking soda in a medium pan over medium heat.”
My sauce never turned that beautiful caramel color. I didn’t have any buttermilk so I had to make it by mixing milk with lemon juice. I let the mixture boil for the full minute and a little after but it stayed white. It still tasted delicious though 🙂 My husband even ate it and he’s not a dessert guy! I was afraid to let it boil much longer because it was so frothy and about to boil over the sides of pan. Any suggestions? For the family it worked, like I said tasted great, but wasn’t very pretty to look at 😉 Also I didn’t have a Bundt pan so I used a 9×13 and it was done after 55 minutes.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe, I’ll be makin this again soon!
Has anyone tried this by substituting honey for some or all of the sugar? I love that this recipe contains whole grains, but we have basically cut out almost all refined sugars from out diet and 3 total cups of sugar seems like a lot to me now. (Never thought I’d say that by the way)
Okay, I’m a dope and just noticed that your gluten-free recipe uses honey instead of sugar. I’ll try that one. Thanks so much for all of the work you do and share with us regular folks who are less creative in the kitchen but still determined to eat a more natural diet! 🙂
Can I use coconut sugar instead for this recipe
I haven’t tested it, but I think it should work as a good substitution.
Can you freeze this recipe?