Apple cake is a popular dessert produced with the main ingredient of apples. Such a cake is made through the process of slicing this sweet fruit to add fragrance to a plain cake base. Traditional apple cakes go a step further by including various spices such as nutmeg or cinnamon, which give off a unique flavour. Upon the addition of spices the batter can also be accompanied by crushed nuts, the most popular being walnuts and almonds.

Dorset apple cake and Somerset apple cake are traditional forms of this cake, respectively from Dorset and Somerset, England. They may include apple juices local to these counties as part of their recipes, but are not necessary.

Apples are also used in other cakes, including chocolate cake, where their water-retention can help a normally-dry cake to stay moist. In this case they may be either dried or fresh.