We cannot get enough baked apple treats in the fall! Inspired by the sweet-and-tart treat, this caramel apple cake also uses whole wheat and a hidden veggie – zucchini! Not only does the zucchini make the cake a little healthier, but it adds subtle green apple colored flecks.

You’re going to love this cake that tastes like a cross between a caramel apple and rich coffee cake – but with half the sugar and fat of similar recipes.

The quest to make a healthier cake that still tastes good

I really had my work cut out for me when I started this one. Could a healthier cake really be as delicious as the full-fledged cake I know? I was delighted to find that the answer is yes! That is, if you like rich, dense, caramel-y cake. I know I do.

Now remember – this cake is still dessert! So it has a bit of sugar and butter, but we reduce the sugar by more than half and added Greek yogurt in place of lots of butter. And the best part? It’s still delicious and tastes like caramel-y coffee cake with delicious bites of apple! But without unnecessary excess. Win-win.

Here are some healthy cake making tips I learned:

• Using white wheat flour in this cake works! It means we get a denser cake, more of a coffee cake consistency. But, personally, I prefer that.
• Zucchini is sometimes used to replace apples in healthy dessert recipes. Crazy right!? We didn’t want to cut out our apples, but we did add some zucchini to sneak in an extra bit of veggies! We just let the apples and zucchini sit in some cinnamon and sugar to soak up flavor before mixing it in to ensure maximum tastiness.
• Cutting sugar in baking often works – and you rarely miss it. I am in the habit of halving sugar in most quick breads and muffins, so I tried doing so here and it worked like a charm. Especially because of the caramel topping – no need to be overly sweet in the cake itself.
• Subbing Greek yogurt for half or more of the butter worked great! This won’t work for all recipes, but I’m glad to do so when I can.
• I also tried using coconut oil and applesauce in the cake (separately) instead of butter and both worked well, but the applesauce leads to a bit more of a spongy, wet texture. If you don’t mind texture change, it still tasted good and means you don’t have to use a fat!

So the next time you’re in charge of dessert, give this caramel apple cake recipe a go! Use the tips above to experiment and have fun. Just be sure you have lots of people to share it with so you don’t gobble it all up by yourself!