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Caramel Apple Bread

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Sink your teeth into this Homemade Caramel Apple Bread, ever so decadently drizzled with rich caramel glaze. Bursting with pieces of fresh apples throughout, this bakery-style sweet bread is the perfect sweet morning treat or midnight snack. 

Sliced caramel apple bread on a white plate.

Are you a first-time baker? No need to worry. This quick bread recipe is ideal for beginners, thanks to its basic ingredients and simple instructions. Whether diving into this apple bread or trying your hand at classic banana bread or zucchini bread, you’ve got this. Once you’ve mastered one quick bread, you can take on all of them. 

This homemade bread is sure to become one of your favorite things in the world. Who doesn’t love the smell of fresh bread baking?

Ingredients for this apple bread laid out on the table.

What You Need to Make Caramel Apple Bread

A little flour, sugar, and warm spices are just the beginning of this deliciously moist apple bread. 

Ingredients: 

  • Apples – Granny Smith apples nicely complement the caramel.
  • Brown Sugar
  • Buttermilk
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Large Eggs – lightly beaten
  • All-Purpose Flour
  • Pecans – Chopped pecans are a perfect choice, here but feel free to use your favorite nut
  • Baking Soda
  • Ground Cinnamon
  • Salt
  • Nutmeg

How to Make Homemade Apple Bread

When it comes to baking, having all your ingredients set up before starting is crucial. Have your mixing bowl, baking pans, parchment paper, and everything else ready to go too! 

To Make The Bread

  • In a large bowl, stir together chopped apples, brown sugar, buttermilk, oil, and eggs. Stir in remaining bread ingredients until dry ingredients are moistened. 
  • Pour into an 8×4 inch loaf pan.
  • Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. 
  • Cool for 10 minutes on a cooling rack. Loosen the sides of the loaves from pans using a bread knife; remove from the pan and place top side up on a wire rack. 
  • Let the bread cool completely! At least an hour. 

To Make The Glaze

  • In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat then stir in brown sugar. Heat the sugar mixture until boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat to low. 
  • Boil and stir for 2 minutes before stirring in the milk. Heat to boiling; remove from heat. 
  • Cool until lukewarm for about 30 minutes.
  • Once lukewarm, gradually stir powdered sugar into the glaze mixture. Place the saucepan of glaze in a bowl of cold water. Beat with a spoon until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. 
  • Drizzle glaze over loaves. 

PRO TIP: If the glaze becomes too stiff, stir in additional milk, a half teaspoon at a time, or heat over low heat, stirring constantly.

Overhead image of bread resting in pan.

Expert Recipe Tips

  • Line the pan with parchment paper to easily lift the bread from the pan. 
  • ​Temperature can change everything! For the best results, let all your ingredients come to room temperature before baking. 
  • A dash of vanilla extract goes a long way! 
Hand drizzling sauce over bread.

What to Serve With Fresh Apple Bread

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert—this sweet bread satisfies any time of day. For a boozy, fruity brunch, sip on a toasted coconut and strawberry cocktail alongside a slice of apple. For a quick snack, spread creamy butter and sprinkle with sea salt. You can even dunk this into your morning cup of coffee! 

Leftovers and Reheating

Bread is made to last! To enjoy this bread later, wrap it tightly with plastic wrap, and store at room temperature for up to 4 days, or refrigerate for up to 10 days. You can also freeze it in an airtight container for up to 3 months! Simply thaw on the countertop before grabbing that bread knife. 

Apple bread drizzled with caramel bread.

More Apple Recipes To Try

You know what they say! An apple dessert a day keeps the doctor away. If you are looking for more amazing quick bread recipes, try these! They’re so so good.

If you’ve tried this decadent apple bread, please be sure to rate the recipe and leave a comment to help out the next reader.

Caramel-Glazed Apple Bread

Whip up a batch of our mouthwatering Apple Bread, filled with juicy apples and warm spices, for a delightful homemade treat that's perfect for any occasion. Enjoy this moist and delicious bread for breakfast, dessert, or a satisfying snack that the whole family will love.
4.72 from 42 votes
Print Pin Rate
Author: Kita Roberts
1 hour 10 minutes
Serves: 2 loaves

Ingredients

  • Bread:
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded peeled baking apples - 2 large
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs - lightly beaten
  • 3 cups AP flour
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Glaze:
  • 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar - sifted

Instructions

For The Bread

  • Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottoms only of 2 (8×4-inch) loaf pans with cooking spray or shortening.
  • In large bowl, stir together apples, 1 cup brown sugar, the buttermilk, oil and eggs. Stir in remaining bread ingredients just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into pans.
  • Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on cooling rack. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top sides up on cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

For The Glaze

  • In 1-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in 1/4 cup brown sugar. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat to low. Boil and stir 2 minutes. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling; remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm, about 30 minutes.
  • Gradually stir powdered sugar into glaze mixture. Place saucepan of glaze in bowl of cold water. Beat with spoon until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. If glaze becomes too stiff, stir in additional milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, or heat over low heat, stirring constantly. Drizzle glaze over loaves. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

Notes

Betty Crocker, cuz she knows what guys want.
Do they still use that slogan?

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 316kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 387mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 21g

Nutritional informations provided as a courtesy and is only an approximatation. Values will changes based on ingredients used.

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Help out the next person and give it a star rating below!

Backlit caramel apple bread.

Recipe FAQs

What are the best baking apples? 

Leave the soft apples behind, baking calls for a hardy apple that can stand up to heat without turning into mush. For this recipe, the tartness of a Granny Smith apple balances the warm cinnamon and sugar. Try Golden Delicious or Honeycrisp apples if you’re looking for chunks of sweet apples in every bite. 

What If I Don’t Have A Loaf Pan?

You can make this caramel apple bread in another dish, like a cast iron pan or even a muffin tin! (Caramel apple muffins, anyone?) The only thing is that the cooking time may change based on the dish. To avoid overbaked bread, check on it after 30 minutes. Remember, the bread is finished when an inserted toothpick comes out clean! 

What if I don’t have Buttermilk?

No worries! You can make your own buttermilk easily by adding ½ teaspoon white vinegar to ½ cup of regular or plant-based milk. Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then continue on with the recipe. You could also use yogurt or sour cream, by stirring in ¼ cup of either and ¼ cup of water into the recipe. 

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Joanne says

    I still haven’t figured out why stores don’t carry pumpkin year round! Don’t they know that I need my fix, even in the middle of August? Sheesh. They’re missing out on a really lucrative market.

    Ah well. Your loaf screams fall to me in the best way possible. Delicious apples and caramel? How could you go wrong.

    Reply

  4. Amanda says

    This sounds like a must try for fall. I’m imagining a warm slice right in front of me now and I think I’m drooling! It’s cool and rainy so it would be perfect today. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe.

    Reply

  7. Lan says

    that looks AMAAAAZING.

    i’m all about apples and i see this bread as something i’m going to make in the next few weeks.

    thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  11. silver says

    i just wanted to make sure i made u happy very nice recipe and great pictures i like cooking and taking pictures but somehow they never come together quite well tnx again

    Reply

  12. Tunde says

    Looks delicoius! Do you think it’s possible to replace the brown sugar with regular one? I have a hard time finding packed brown sugar in Romania.

    Reply

  15. Cheryl says

    I had the same thing happen to me this weekend. How is pumpkin not in season??? The lady at the store I went to tried to sell me a plastic pumpkin instead. Yeah that’s going to taste great in a cream cheese spread.

    Reply

  24. barbara says

    Loved the pix with the dog in the background. Reminds me of the time my newly married daughter made banana bread as Christmas gifts for family and friends. The whole counter was filled. She went to the store…when she returned the dog had taken bites out of many loaves!!! Funniest is that she cut off the bit end, wrapped the rest and presented it to them as 1/2 a loaf! They never knew and it was delicious. This still makes me laugh!! The bread sound great, I have to try it. Thanks

    Reply

  25. Marcie says

    Thanks for the delicious recipe! I brought it to brunch this morning and got a lot of compliments.

    I baked an 8 x 4″ loaf pan for 35 minutes, and a mini loaf pan for only 30 minutes.

    We ate a mini loaf of bread without the glaze and thought it was just okay (the nutmeg came across pretty strong to me). But then I added the glaze, and that made it fantastic! I had to play with the glaze a little; next time I won’t cool it very long at all before I add the sugar, and I think that will work better.

    Reply

  26. Kaci @ Kaci's Kitchen says

    My 13 year old brother picked out this recipe (from a long list of recipes I picked out first, of course) to make with the apples we picked last weekend and the bread is in the oven now!

    He is particularly excited about the caramel glaze. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  28. Natalie says

    Made the bread tonight. Turned out wonderfully! Absolutely delicious and the glaze was a perfect addition of flavors! My glaze ended up needing a bunch of milk, but once it was the right consistancy it worked perfectly! Loved everything about it. Made muffins with the leftover batter. Those cooked a lot faster, and was able to enjoy those a lot sooner! Definitely a keeper!

    Reply

  30. Heidi says

    What is AP flour? A brand or special kind?
    Also what kind of apples do you use for the recipe? Thanks!

    Reply

    • Kita says

      AP flour is all purpose flour. I can not remember exactly what kind of apples I used in the bread, but when baking I tend to lean towards red delicious and granny smith.

      Reply

  39. Ruth Anne Richmond Harmeling says

    I love Granny Smiths. They are tart and crisp and stand up to most anything you want to do with them. When I make applesauce I use a mix of Galas and Grannys. But for everything else is all about the Granny.

    Reply

  48. Nicole says

    I made this tonight and it was amazing! Everything turned out perfect and my hubby is very happy. Thank you! 🙂

    Reply

  49. Chelle says

    Funny you talk about the pumpkin. I replaced the oil and buttermilk with equal amount of cooked mashed pumpkin! Turned out great and drops the calories to 220 for a 1 inch slice, before adding glaze of course : ) I did cut down the cooking time to about 40 mins per earlier comments.

    Reply

  51. Mike Wascher says

    That is a beautiful looking loaf!

    We always make breads for the holidays. For ourselves, and they’re also nice small gifts for friends & neighbors. But ours are wallflowers compared to these dressed-up loaves!

    Reply

    • Ilese says

      I made this and it was extremely dry and tasteless.
      Not sure what is wrong, I followed the recipe exactly. It needs much more moisture in the batter and the glaze comes out grainy if you follow her directions.
      Be careful with this one, I now have two loaves of bread that nobody wants to eat. 🙁

      Reply

  54. RWright says

    I was wondering about the “shredded” apples; how do you do this? I want to make sure my break turns out as beautifully as pictured!! 🙂

    Reply

    • Kita says

      Use a cheese grater on those bad boys! Or if you have a food processor with the cheese grater attachment it would work perfectly. 🙂 Hope this turns out well for you.

      Reply

  57. Marna says

    I used the glaze recipe for zucchini chocolate chip cookies that were just not sweet enough. Easy recipe and delicious, too!

    Reply

  59. K M says

    This is one of my favorite bread recipes! We have been making it for a couple of years and it always turns out great! We also adapt it for muffins. Today we decided to give mini bundts a try. 🙂

    Reply

    • Kita says

      Thanky ou so much Kate! This comment sincerely made my day. I just pulled this recipe up this morning. It is awesome to hear that you are still digging it too!

      Reply

  60. Stacy Thomas says

    The caramel glaze is tricky (I burnt my first batch!) but if you are patient and don’t have too hot of a burner, it turns out perfectly. I brought this bread to a meeting today and everybody LOVED the glaze. Also, because of the comments about it being dry (I read them AFTER my loaves were in the oven otherwise I would have added greek yogurt or something similar), when they were still warm, I poured a little apple cider over them to soak in. They were very moist. Oh, and 35 minutes for baking was just about right. Any longer and I think the outside would have started to taste burnt. This one is a keeper.

    Reply

  62. Denay DeGuzman says

    5 stars
    Mmmm…my mouth is watering just looking at the gorgeous images of your freshly-baked loaf of caramel-glazed apple bread. I love that it looks easy to make. This season I’d enjoy creating several mini loaves for family and friends.

    Reply

  63. Jenn says

    This looks and sounds delicious. I haven’t made homemade bread of any kind in a long time. I don’t think I’ve ever made apple. I’ll have to give this one a try, I’m sure my family will love it.

    Reply

  64. Clara says

    5 stars
    You had me at glazed. I pretty much like anything with a glaze on it so the apple and caramel are bonuses to me. I would definitely attempt this recipe as your pictures make it look so delicious. Also, it’s a perfect recipe for this time of year. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply

  69. blm says

    Can I use unsweetened oatmilk and lemon juice in lieu of the buttermilk? Should I add some apple cider for moistness?? Can’t wait to try this recipe!!

    Reply

    • Kita says

      We don’t recommend oat milk as a 1-to-1 substitute because they dont have the same fat content as regular buttermilk.

      Reply

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