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You guys, you guys, you guys.
I maybe, kind of sort of, got a little carried away with this Salted Caramel Apple Snickers Cake.
But sometimes I really just cannot help myself. Getting carried away in chocolate is always a fun thing. And this cake? It’s my favorite fall recipe to date. I freaking love this cake!
I kind of have a lot to say about this cake (how could I not!). Please bear with me as I ramble (and ramble) and try to convince you that you need to make this cake.
For one, I realize that this cake is well, totally high maintenance. I am not going to sit here and try to tell you that it’s quick and easy because that would just be a lie. This snickers cake recipe takes a little TLC for sure, but I think it’s a cake that is worth it. Maybe it’s only a once year cake, but that is what makes it even more special. And the time of year to make it is NOW. I am thinking Halloween, but Thanksgiving would work too. Personally, I think it’s geared more towards Halloween. It has a little spook factor to it, the caramel apples and the whole Snickers thing makes it a dead ringer for Halloween, when everything is all about candy. Although, I didn’t actually use any Snickers in this cake, it’s just Snickers flavored…. but it’s better than a Snickers bar.
Without a doubt.
Here’s the deal, the cake part is simple. It’s just a spiced apple cake, but made chocolate. I know that is not really typical, but who cares, it’s good. The cinnamon is delicious with the chocolate cake layers and the sweet flavors of the apples.
Oh, and since this cake is full of applesauce that means it’s healthy, right??
Ok, ok, fine, it’s not even close to being healthy, but hey I had to try. And hey, it’s a celebration cake so the calories don’t count anyways… reason number 101 as to why I love the months of October, November and December. These are the months when food can be whatever we want it to be. Yes to the yes.
Once you have the cake all baked, it’s time for the caramel. Now the caramel we are dividing into two parts. You are going to start off, by making one big pot of salted caramel sauce. We only need one cup of the caramel sauce, so we remove that from the pot, set it aside to cool and then reserve the remaining caramel sauce (just leave it in the pot you cooked it in) for later on in the recipe. We need the one cup of salted caramel sauce for making the frosting and drizzling the cake layers. The rest of the caramel in the pot will need to be cooked again and brought to the proper temperature to coat the apples in. Once the cake is all assembled you will cover the cake and apples in this caramel. This is the very final step though.
The next step is the frosting, which may just be the best part. The frosting is addicting you guys. If you are a frosting lover, you may just want to double the recipe. It’s “spoonful worthy” good.
The frosting is sort of the “nougat filling” and peanut layer of the cake combined into one. I really did not want to take the time to make two sets of frosting for this cake, so I just combined them into one. It worked perfectly, if I do say so myself.
It tastes sweet, but with the perfect amount of salt to balance it, and then it’s super peanutty, super creamy and so fluffy. AKA, the best frosting ever.
After you have made the frosting, you frost that cake ALL OVER. Get every nook and cranny, then drizzle every inch with that reserved one cup of caramel sauce and cover those moist chocolate cakes in full on deliciousness.
Don’t worry about the frosting looking perfect because you will be covering it in a layer of chocolate and then a thick layer of caramel. Totally insane.
The bummer part to this recipe is that it requires some chill out time in the fridge. The first chill time is short. You just want to keep the frosted cake in the fridge while you make the chocolate coating. It’s no big deal.
But the second chill time is more important. Once you have poured the chocolate coating (which is just chocolate ganache) over the cake, it is best if you can keep the cake in the fridge for at least and hour and half. I recommend overnight because it just make things easier (and less daunting) if you break the cake up into two days, but an hour and half will do too. After the cake is well chilled, it’s time to finish the caramel and make this cake GORGEOUS.
All you are doing is boiling that same caramel from earlier (that I left in the pot) and bringing it to a slightly high temp. It REALLY helps if you have a candy thermometer for this. It just takes the guessing out and makes things a little simpler. It’s not a must, but you know your caramel is ready when you use the thermometer.
Also, it is important to let the caramel cool slightly before pouring it over the cake. This will help the caramel thicken up and also prevent the cake from melting. It’s kind of annoying, but pretty important, so don’t skip it. And then just pour the caramel over the cake, dip the apples and garnish with some salt and peanuts.
The caramel on the cake + apples should never become hard. It’s should firm up into a solid, but stay soft and chewy.
Whew. I know. It’s a lot, but it’s fun and perfect for Halloween. Please don’t be freaked by the amount of time required here. It’s not a hard cake to make, it just needs a little time. And come on, how could it not be worth it??
Words cannot describe just how good this cake is. It’s so good that I wasn’t even complaining that I had to make it twice… in a two-day period. And yes, all the cake somehow managed to get eaten. Everyone from my family, to builders to friends, to random walk-ins loved this cake.
What can I say, it’s just a lovable cake.
Sorry for the giant post with too many words and WAY too many photos, but I am obviously pretty excited about this cake.
Salted Caramel Apple Snickers Cake.
Servings: 16 Servings
Calories Per Serving: 953 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 3 eggs at room temperature
- 3/4 cup canola oil
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee hot (or warm apple cider)
Salted Caramel
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup honey or corn syrup
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
- 1 tablespoon bourbon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt + flakey salt for sprinkling
- 3 your favorite SMALL apples * I used granny smith and honeycrisp
- 6 twigs or wooden sticks
Snickers Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter not the oily kind
- 1/3 cup salted caramel ingredients above
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup salted peanuts chopped + more for garnish
Chocolate Coating
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Instructions
To make the Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 8-inch (or 9 inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter/spray with cooking spray.
- In a medium size bowl combine the flour, sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand held mixer) beat together the eggs, canola oil, apple sauce, and vanilla until smooth.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with the mixer on low until there are no longer any clumps of flour. Add the hot coffee and mix until combined. Batter should be pourable, but not super thin.
- Pour the batter among the 3 cake pans and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are just set and no longer wiggly in the center. Remove and let cool five minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the pan. Grab 3 large flat plates, line them with wax or parchment paper and invert the cakes onto the paper lined plates. Cover and let the cakes cool completely before frosting.
To Make the Caramel + Frosting
- Place sugar, honey and apple cider in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, boil, without stirring, 9 minutes or until light golden in color. Add the heavy cream, butter, bourbon, and vanilla, slowly stirring into pan. Boil for 10-15 minutes or until a candy thermometer reads 210 degrees F., stirring frequently. Remove the sauce from heat and add the salt. Using a heat proof measuring cup scoop out 1 cup of caramel sauce and allow it to cool. Cover the remaining sauce and set aside until the cake is ready (I just covered my pot and set it aside overnight).
- Now make the frosting, add the butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar to the bowl of stand mixer (or use a hand held mixer). Beat together until the butter is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the peanut butter, 1/3 cup of the cooled caramel sauce and the vanilla, beat, scraping down the sides as needed, another 2 minutes or until there are no streaks. Stir in the chopped peanuts.
To Assemble the Cake
- Place 1 layer of cake, flat side up, on a plate or cake stand. Drizzle the cake with a little salted caramel sauce (from the reserved 1 cup, not from the pot of caramel). With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and drizzle with caramel. Spread the frosting evenly on the top. Add the final layer of cake and drizzle with the remaining caramel. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Don't worry about it being too perfect as you will be covering most of it up. Place the cake in fridge.
- To make the chocolate coating. In a microwave safe bowl add the chocolate and cream. Microwave on high for 30 second intervals, stirring between each until melted. Allow the sauce to cool 3-5 minutes, and then pour the sauce onto the middle of the cake and spread to just the sides, allow the sauce to drip down the sides of the cake. Place the cake in the fridge preferably overnight, but at least 1 1/2 hours. You need the chocolate to be completely set and the frosting firm.
To Finish.
- Once the cake is cool, grab that reserved caramel sauce in the pot. Place it back over medium-high heat and bring it to a boil. Boil for 15-20 minutes or until a candy thermometer reads between 220-230 degrees F (I let mine go to 225 and it was perfect). Remove the sauce from the stove and let is cool 15-20 minutes, stirring every so often. Make sure the caramel does not become too stiff. If it stiffens too much you will not be able to dip the apples. While the sauce cools, push the twigs or wooden sticks into the top of the apples. Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
- When the caramel has cooled (it should be a little thicker now, but still pourable), pour about half the caramel over the cake and allow it to fall down the sides of the cake. Working quickly, dip the apples into the remaining caramel and place the in the center of cake. Sprinkle the cake with flakey salt and peanuts. Make room in the fridge for the cake and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes. The caramel should never get completely hard, but should be more of a soft firm. Once the caramel is firm, store the cake in the fridge until ready to serve. Allow the cake to sit 15 minutes at room temp before serving. Please not that this is a delicate and with all the toppings it is a bit tricky to slice. Your slices will not be perfect.
Notes
*To cut the cake, I recommend removing the apples and then carefully slicing the cake. This is a messy cake guys, the slices will not be perfect. *If you prefer, you do not have to add the caramel apples to the cake. It does make the cake a little hard to cut, so you can either skip them or serve them on the side of the cake. *It is important to use small, light apples. If you use large apples, the cake has a greater chance of caving in.
Seriously? I cannot even handle it. This cake, I love this cake! So please make it – please!
This post was originally published on October 17, 2014
I am confused, didn’t the original recipe have 1.5 cups of applesauce? I came to reprint because my copy got messy, and noticed the applsauce is gone from the ingredient list. I have made this several times as a cake and cupcakes and it was always amazing with the applesauce.
Hi Michele, I am so sorry for the confusion. I recently switched my recipes layouts and some of the recipes did not properly transfer. There is apple sauce in the cake! I will fix the recipe now. Thank you for letting me know!
How much applesauce do we use for this cake? I don’t see it in the ingredient list. And I searched through all the comments and no one else mentioned this. Maybe the ingredient list has changed.
I made it anyway, since I was taking it to work on Monday and already had the other ingredients — using 1 cup of applesauce. The cake layers sunk a little in the center, but not much. But I would like to know how much is the correct amount in case I make it again.
The cake came out great otherwise. The peanut butter frosting was great and the caramel sauce worked fine, although next time I will use all corn syrup. I didn’t care for the honey taste (used half honey and half corn syrup).
Thanks.
I am so sorry for the confusion. I recently switched my recipes layouts and some of the recipes did not properly transfer. There is apple sauce in the cake! I will fix the recipe now. Thank you for letting me know!
This looks amazing, like, perfekt for my sister’s birthday, which is coming up!
I was wondering, when making the caramel, can I substitute the bourbon and cider? Preferably with something non-alcoholic.
Hey! So the cider does not have alcohol, but you can use apple juice if needed. Just omit the bourbon. Let me know if you have questions. Hope you love this! 🙂
Wow!!!!
You were not kidding, when you noted this cake is not for beginners… but so. worth. it! My sister loved it and so did everyone else, even though it didn’t turn out exactly as I wanted. Will be making this again!!!! Thank you ?
I am glad you still enjoyed it! Thank you so much!
I’m making this for Thanksgiving. I baked the cakes today. They look so yummy!!!! Do you think I could frost the cake today put in the fridge? Then do the ganache tomorrow and refrigerate over night? Then the last caramel sauce the morning of Thanksgiving? So over the course of 3 days. The caramel sauce would have to sit out on the counter for 2 nights? Does this sound okay? Thank you!! Can’t wait for the finished product and to eat it off course!!!!
Hey Chelsie! Yes, frosting the cake works great! It is best to have the cake chilled when you pout the caramel and ganache. The caramel will be fine on the counter. Let me know if you have questions. Hope you love this cake! Thanks!
I’m gonna make this again for Thanksgiving. Now I know what I am doing. ? This time I will make sunflower seed butter since we have some peanut allergic people in the family. Or is there something that will taste better? Unsalted, I presume? And I will try to remember to take a photo BEFORE everybody has attacked it!
Hey Laura! I think sunflower seed butter will be great. Let me know if you have any questions at all. Hope the cake is a huge it! 🙂
I think we all just died when we saw this cake. One question about peanut butter… what exactly do you mean? I only use organic peanut butter, but I can get no stir which doesn’t have all the oil on the top. Would that be ok? I refuse to use JIF or any brand with hydrogenated oil.
Ha, I forgot I changed that part. I used Trader Joe’s Natural PB and it is the crunchy kind, it does get stirred just when you open the jar. It worked just fine. Maybe there were tiny granules of peanuts but I think that made it better. I don’t remember noticing any though.
Hey Shelley! No-sir will work great. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!!
This cake is everything!!! All the flavours work so well together. It’s easy to make but like the recipe says it does need some TLC and a lot of time to chill. The room temperature was too warm for my frosting and it was pouring out of the layers. So I did it twice – rough cover first and then freezer and then again to cover all the gaps and that worked. My caramel turned out to be on a runny side so the top layer is a bit transparent and thin rather than nice and thick like on the pictures but it doesn’t really matter as it tastes divine. Thank you xoxo
Ha ha, I am allowing myself to get agitated too soon. I stuck the caramel in the freezer and it has attained a consistency similar to what it looks like in your pouring video. So never mind. ? Sorry! Made the frosting and now to start putting it all together!
That is great! Hope you love the cake! 🙂
Hum, the caramel thickened, I made the frosting, assembled, made the ganache, all was well…waited the 5 minutes, applied to top with the nice drips, put in fridge. When I looked at it the sides were collapsing. I stuck it in the freezer to halt this and when it stabilized, back to fridge. Left it overnight, feeling sad. I will not have that nice multi layer drippy edge thing and the side edges are not vertical. Looks bad. Guessing that there should’ve been additional time for cake to firm up before adding ganache?
The end of the story: I wasn’t gonna get beat by some cake! In the morning I sawd off the collapsed edges, making them vertical again. I made a little more frosting and refrosted the sides. Stuck cake in freezer until frosting was really hard. Made more ganache and when cool, applied it to the top’s edge and pushed it over here and there to get the drips. Back to the freezer. Continued the recipe as shown. Back to freezer. The cake was firm enough to transport it over bumpy New Jersey roads for an hour. Stuck on the apples at destination. Cake defrosted while we had dinner and then we ate it until we were borderline ill. Then I remembered to take a photo which really looks like Cookie Monster. Where can I send it to you? ?
Oh my gosh!!! You story, you cake!! WOW! I am so amazed and impressed and SO SO SO happy the cake turned out. Thank you!!!! You can send the photo to halfbakedharvest@gmail.com
So excited! Thanks again!
OK I am making the caramel sauce now and am not happy. It is too runny. I cooked it longer, to reduce the amount of liquid, being careful not to let the temp exceed 210°F. Now I stuck the cup of it in the fridge to see if cooling makes it thicker but it is not looking good! Tell me something quick!! ☹️️
Any idea if the caramel will keep at room temperature?
Hey erin, the caramel will keep at room temp for at least a week. Let me know if you have questions. Thanks!
Hello, trying to make this cake and made the caramel last night but it seemed to separate when cooling. Any idea what I might have done wrong or how to fix it??
Making this beautiful creation for my daughter in laws B-day. Can’t wait to hear the cheers. Thank you so much.
Awesome! I hope everyone loves it, thanks so much Christy!
I just poured caramel and put apples on. I can’t wait to taste it! Yours is gorgeous! Mine not as gorgeous but not too bad for a novice. Fingers crossed it tastes just as good as it looks? Thanks for sharing!
Ah I hope you love this Tisha! Thank you!!
I think I’m gonna make this cake later this week. It looks and sounds fabulous! Wish me luck. What size flame should I have when doing the caramel sauce? I am a little nervous about this part of the recipe.
Hey Lauren!! Medium high heat. Let me know if you have questions. Thanks!
Thank you for this info. I baked the cakes last night and will freeze them until Friday when I will continue.
Your welcome! Hope you love them!
I made this cake twice! I actually did it! The first time was a “practice” run and the second was for a fall party that I have each year. I bake a lot and wouldn’t consider myself a novice and I also am a decent candy maker, and I found this cake to be a bit challenging. The first one was pretty good and the second one was fantastic. It got lots of compliments and several requests for the bakery’s name where I got it. Surprised several to find out that I made it. The cake is delicious and oooey gooey and decadent. The biggest trouble that I had was with the caramel topping. The first time it was a bit runny and I had a hard time getting it to stay on the cake until it set. The second time I cooked it a little longer and let it cool almost completely before putting in on the cake and it set beautifully. The caramel also had an absolutely wonderful flavor. I may not ever make this cake again, but it was a lot of fun and put me to the test. Great recipe! Thank you!
So so happy everyone loved this cake and it turned out great for you!! Thank you Greg!