Apple Gingerbread Cakelets

Apple Gingerbread Cakelets are chewy gingerbread cookies made with apple butter and baked in a Nordic Ware’s Apple Cakelet Pan. These adorable shaped treats fill cookie jars and care packages with spicy fall flavor.

This  recipe is sponsored on behalf of #AppleWeek. Our generous sponsors, Swiss Diamond, Envy Apples, Imperial Sugar, Nordic Ware, Rodelle Vanilla, Flahavan’s Irish Oatmeal, Nairn’s and The Spice House have provided us with products for recipe creation and a giveaway for our readers. All opinions are my own.

About this recipe

I baked some memories of fall orchard trips with Nordic Ware's Apple Cakelet pan in the form of Apple Gingerbread Cakelets.

These cakelets are firm and chewy, more like a thick cookie than a cake. They are full of gingerbread spices, with a touch of sweetness from apple butter.

These cake-like cookies are pretty adorable right out of the pan. Some are half apples with a leaf and others are cut apples with seeds.  They bake to a beautiful rich golden brown.

The pan has 14 cavities. Two of the cavities are deep and round without any details. These can be used with other recipes for sandwiching two cakelets together to form a complete apple.

I didn’t use those cavities. I used the molds of cut apples with seeds inside and the molds of apple halves with leaves.

To make them extra special for Thanksgiving care packages and gift giving, I turned some of the cakelets into Golden Apples.

The concept of a Golden Apple appears in folktales from many cultures. In Norse legends, the Golden Apple is a divine food and a source of immortality. I don’t know about the immortality part, but Apple Gingerbread Cakelets do taste divine.

Making  Golden Apples adds a small, easy craft project to this baking project. Two squares of gold foil candy wrappers, one on the top and one on the bottom, are pressed around the half apple cakelets to create the sparkling Golden Apples.

Recipe directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars, then add the remaining ingredients.
2. Fill 12 apple molds (cut apple and apple with leaves only) with dough, pressing firmly to avoid air pockets. Deep molds should be filled up to ¼” from the top. Shallow molds should be filled up to ⅛” from the top. There will be enough dough for 4 more cakes remaining.
3. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.
4. Remove from the oven and allow the little cakes to cool for about 15 minutes in the pan.
5. Use the remaining dough to fill 4 molds and bake just like the first pan of cakelets.
6. To wrap in foil to create Golden Apples, wrap the bottom, flat surface of the cakelet first, bringing any extra foil up toward the upper rounded surface of the apple.
7. Set the cakelet on a flat surface and lay the second foil square on top of the cakelet.
8. Holding the foil in place, use a fingertip to rub over the leaf first to emphasize the leaf edges and veins. Then press the rest of the top foil into place.

Tips for creating golden apples

• When wrapping cakelets in foil, don’t worry about wrinkles. It’s nearly impossible to apply the foil without wrinkles, and the added texture looks lovely.
•  If using two 4” x 4” foil squares, like I did, wrap the bottom of the cakelet first, set the cakelet on a flat surface and lay the second foil square on top of the cakelet. Holding the foil in place, use a fingertip to rub over the leaf first to emphasize the leaf edges and veins. Then press the rest of the top foil into place.

Baking tips

• I use Musselmans Apple Butter which already contains spices, so only ½ teaspoon each of ginger and cinnamon is used. If your apple butter doesn’t contain spices, you may need to adjust the amount of spices added to the dough.
• The individual molds on the Nordic Ware Apple Cakelet Pan hold varying amounts of dough. Rather than providing an exact amount of dough to use for each cakelet, my suggestion is that the deep molds be filled up to ¼” from the top edge and that the more shallow molds be filled up to ⅛” from the top edge. The deep molds need to be filled a little more so that all of the cakelets bake evenly.
• Be sure to press the dough firmly into each mold to minimize air bubbles and maximize the leaf and seed details on the cakelets.

I had so much fun baking with the cakelet pan. The Nordic Ware Apple Cakelet Pan is part of Nordic Ware’s Fall Harvest collection.

The heavyduty, cast aluminum pan has a beautiful sparkly copper colored finish. For this recipe, the pan did not require any greasing. Every one of my little cakelets popped out of the mold with one tap on the counter.

These cookie-cakes are an memorable care package treat and would also be a show stopper dessert for any fall gathering!

Related recipes

I hope you have enjoyed the many recipes that are part of #AppleWeek. The Monday Box contributed Apple Gingerbread Cakelets, Apple Raisin Oatmeal Cookies and Apple Cherry Jam Cookies. 

Caramel Apple Cookies are soft, chewy cookies made with apple butter and topped with soft caramel icing.

Banana Pudding Cookies are thick, chewy, and bursting with fruity banana flavor.

Raspberry Rally Cookies are crunchy Girl Scout cookie copycats, a pink raspberry cookie coated in chocolate.

Strawberry Shortbread Cookies are buttery cookies that will melt in your mouth.

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Apple Gingerbread Cakelets

Chewy gingerbread cookie-cakes made with apple butter and spices.

5 from 2 votes

Pin Recipe Print Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 16

Calories: 187kcal

Author: Wendy Sondov

Equipment

• 4" x 4" squares of gold foil candy wrappers

Ingredients

• ¾ cup unsalted butter room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup apple butter
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ginger
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars.
• Mix in apple butter, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, baking powder, and flour, until a dough forms.
• Fill 12 apple molds (cut apple and apple with leaves only) with dough, pressing firmly to avoid air pockets. Deep molds should be filled up to ¼” from the top. Shallow molds should be filled up to ⅛” from the top. There will be enough dough for 4 more cakelets remaining.
• Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and allow the cakelets to cool for about 15 minutes in the pan.
• To remove the cakelets, turn the pan over on countertop. Tap the pan on the countertop to release the cakelets. If any of the cakelets remain in the mold, use the tip of a butter knife to loosen and remove the cakelet.
• Place the cakelets on a wire rack to cool completely.
• Use the remaining dough to fill 4 cakelet molds and bake just like the first pan of cakelets.
• To wrap cakelets in foil to create Golden Apples
• Wrap the bottom, flat surface of the cakelet first, bringing any extra foil up toward the upper rounded surface of the apple.
• Set the cakelet on a flat surface and lay the second foil square on top of the cakelet.
• Holding the foil in place, use a fingertip to rub over the leaf first to emphasize the leaf edges and veins. Then press the rest of the top foil into place.
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days.

Notes

• I use Musselmans Apple Butter which already contains spices, so only ½ teaspoon each of ginger and cinnamon is used in Apple Gingerbread Cakelets. If your apple butter doesn’t contain spices, you may need to adjust the amount of spices added to the dough.
• The individual molds on the Nordic Ware Apple Cakelet Pan hold varying amounts of dough. Rather than providing an exact amount of dough to use for each cakelet, my suggestion is that the deep molds be filled up to ¼” from the top edge and that the more shallow molds be filled up to ⅛” from the top edge. The deep molds need to be filled a little more so that all of the cakelets bake evenly.
• Be sure to press the dough firmly into each mold to minimize air bubbles and maximize the apple leaf and seed details on the cakelets.
• When wrapping cakelets in foil, don’t worry about wrinkles. It’s nearly impossible to apply the foil without wrinkles, and the added texture looks lovely.
•  If using two 4” x 4” foil squares, like I did, wrap the bottom of the cakelet first, set the cakelet on a flat surface and lay the second foil square on top of the cakelet. Holding the foil in place, use a fingertip to rub over the leaf first to emphasize the leaf edges and veins. Then press the rest of the top foil into place.

Packing tips

Wrap each cakelet individually in plastic wrap. For a special presentation, place each cakelet into a cellophane cookie/goodie bag and close with a twist tie or ribbon. Then pack wrapped cakelets snugly into a freezer weight zip lock bag or plastic storage container.

Nutrition

Calories: 187kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 136mg | Potassium: 31mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 267IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 1mg

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First Published: September 28, 2018. Last Updated: July 24, 2023. Updated for better reader experience.

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