A cinnamon sponge cake in the shape of a classic Charlotte, topped with fluffy whipped cream cheese and plenty of cinnamon and caramel apples. It’s a perfect taste of sweet fall flavors!
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This post was sponsored as a part of #AppleWeek. Nordic Ware sent a cake pan for me to use, but as always all opinions are my own.
Fall is upon us and it’s time to celebrate, with cake of course! This spongy cake is spiked with cinnamon and topped with a super fluffy vanilla and cream cheese mixture.
The pile of caramelly apple goodness on top really drives it home as a dessert to be remembered. This cinnamon sponge Charlotte cake with caramel apples is a fall dream come true!
Have you ever made a traditional Charlotte? Do you know what one is?
Generally they are a no bake dessert that is encircled in a ring of lady fingers and often tied up with a bow. I made a orange cranberry Charlotte in the early days of the blog.
I loved the look so much, it inspired the lady finger crust of other goodies such as my orange creamsicle no bake cheesecake and chocolate no bake cheesecake. There is just something about that ring of lady fingers that draws me in every time.
So of course I was instantly intrigued when I started seeing pictures of Nordic Ware’s new Charlotte inspired cake pan. It has that look of the lady fingers surrounding the dessert, but in cake form! Plus it has the perfect well built in for yummy toppings.
I could not wait to get my hands on that pan! So I was really excited when Nordic Ware offered to send one for apple week recipe creation. I sure am one lucky girl!
The pan itself is beautiful! I have a fair number of Nordic Ware beauties already, so I already knew it was going to be great quality and it would dump well. So I went to work on a recipe.
I ended up adapting the recipe that came with the pan. It is a 6 cup pan, so smaller than most, and I wanted to make sure what I made would fit in the pan. Plus the recipe looked so simple and had a nice spongy appearance that seemed like a perfect homage to the pan’s namesake dessert.
The cake smelled of cinnamon while baking and turned out beautifully, just as I expected! Then I went to work making a filling.
A nice cloud of vanilla scented cream cheese seemed like it would be a perfect base layer.
On top of the cloud of cream cheese whipped cream went a pile of cinnamon caramel apple filling. These apples were so dang good! I can already see us making them all fall long for a variety of things.
Oatmeal? Stir them in! Ice cream? Pile them on top! Pancakes? Yes! Waffles? Of course! Empty bowl? Fill it up!
I mean really, these apples will be on and in everything!
I did what I do with most of our desserts, took it to share with my family at our weekly dinner at MiMi and Pops’ house. Everyone thought it looked amazing and tasted even better.
A few people went back for seconds even and I went home with a nearly empty cake plate!
That is really saying something because we always have snacks and a large dinner when we are over there, so sometimes we are a bit full by the time dessert rolls around.
My husband usually prefers meat and potatoes to dessert, so he said he was too full for a slice. He thought he would just steal a bite of mine.
He did, then he got a plate and got himself a slice too! It was that good! They are already wondering when I will make this one again.
If you don’t have a Charlotte pan yet, you should put one on your list. It is such a pretty pan and will be great topped with berries in the spring, peaches in the summer and the list goes on.
In the meantime, however, you could make the cake in an 8″ pan and just put the fillings on top!
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Servings: 8 Servings
Author: Carlee
A cinnamon sponge cake in the shape of a classic Charlotte, topped with fluffy whipped cream cheese and plenty of cinnamon and caramel apples. It’s a perfect taste of sweet fall flavors!
4.77 from 13 ratings
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Prep Time 35 minutes mins
Cook Time 45 minutes mins
Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Apples
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 3 apples
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup brown sugar packed
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Whipped Cream
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Optional: caramel sauce for drizzling
Instructions
Cake
Preheat oven to 350°F and grease your Charlotte or 8″ cake pan.
In your mixer, beat eggs on high for 1 minute.
4 eggs
Add sugar and beat for 7 more minutes on high. The mixture should be really light and voluminous.
⅔ cup granulated sugar
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and cinnamon to ensure there are no lumps.
⅔ cup all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Add half of the flour mixture to the egg mixture and carefully fold in. Add remaining flour mixture and fold in until incorporated.
Put cake batter in prepared cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Apples
Peel and dice the apples.
3 apples
In a sauce pan over medium low heat, melt the butter. Add the apples, water, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of salt. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the apples start to soften. This will take about 5 minutes.
2 Tablespoons butter, ¼ cup water, ¼ cup brown sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
Stir together cornstarch and 2 Tablespoons of cold water. Add cornstarch slurry to apple mixture and stir in. Continue to cook until it is bubbling and thick, about 2 minutes.
1 teaspoon corn starch
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Allow to cool completely before topping cake.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped Cream
Beat cream cheese until creamy and smooth.
4 ounces cream cheese
Add sugar and vanilla, mixing until incorporated.
2 Tablespoons sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla
With mixer running, slowly drizzle in heavy cream until it is incorporated and fluffy.
½ cup heavy cream
Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Assembly
Spread cream cheese whipped cream over completely cooled cake.
Top with cooled cinnamon caramel apples and drizzle with caramel sauce if desired.
Serve immediately or if assembled ahead of time, store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Serving: 1ServingCalories: 349kcalCarbohydrates: 48gProtein: 6gFat: 16gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 132mgSodium: 158mgFiber: 2gSugar: 37g
Nutritional Disclaimer
“Cooking With Carlee” is not a dietitian or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
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