A deliciously easy Cinnamon Apple Cake made from scratch. This soft and tender Apple Cake is packed with fresh apples and features a crunchy cinnamon topping and a drizzle of sweet frosting.
Apple-licious 🍎
Can we take a moment to talk about the match made in heaven that is apple and cinnamon? This terrifically tender Cinnamon Apple Cake is my new fave.
It’s soft, it’s sweet and it’s jam-packed with fresh, juicy apples. The final touch is a sprinkling of sugary cinnamon and a sweet milk glaze.
Can I just say that I never thought a Cinnamon Apple Cake could taste so good. I baked quite a few cakes to get this recipe JUST right and when I finally landed on the winning recipe, I was beyond excited.
One bite of this soft and fluffy masterpiece and I was fist-pumping the air. After many failed Apple Cinnamon Cakes, I instantly knew this one was the winner. Of course, I had to have a few more slices just to be oh-so-sure.
When I first attempted this cake, I started by used oil as the main fat. This is because oil tends to add moisture to baked goods, like in my Olive Oil Brownies or my Malteser Chocolate Cake. I love using oil in cakes.
The first cake was lovely and soft and the taste was on point. But the edges were a little dry for my liking. So I moved on to see if butter would work better, while also slightly altering the amount of flour and sugar.
Let’s just say, it didn’t. The first butter version used melted butter and the cake was heavy, dense and not great. To add lightness and get back closer to the original version, I tried creaming the butter and sugar, like I do in my Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donut recipe. It was better, but still nothing rivalled the oil version.
So finally, I returned to oil, but used a little less flour and added yoghurt to ensure the cake was soft, moist and never dry. It was crowned the WINNER.
What you have here is a melt-in-your-mouth cake that’s studded with fresh apples. It boasts a sugar cinnamon crumble, that once baked, becomes crisp and flavourful.
The cinnamon topping blends perfectly with the juicy, chunks of apple. Then, just because we can, we drizzle the entire cake with a two ingredient sweet sugar glaze. It’s pure perfection.
TIPS FOR MAKING APPLE CAKE
- This Cinnamon Apple Cake is incredibly easy to make. You only need a bowl and spoon – no need for an electric mixer.
- You can use any kind of apple you like, I use red Royal Gala apples. You’ll need to peel and then chop your apple into roughly 1/2 inch squares – discarding the core.
- Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredient until combined – try not to over mix.
- The crumble is made using sugar and cinnamon. Mix together using melted butter until it clumps like sand. Sprinkle over the top of your cake batter – no need to be perfect here.
- Bake until golden and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- The final touch? Drizzle over the sweet sugar glaze and serve!
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more amazing recipe ideas.
Print
Prep Time:
Yield:
Category:
Cuisine:
Print
PinDescription
A tender Cinnamon Apple Cake drizzled with a milk glaze.
Ingredients
Apple cake
- 210 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) caster sugar
- 1 cup (approximately 1 large) red apple, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) Greek yogurt
Cinnamon topping
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Sugar glaze
- 30 grams (1/4 cup) icing or powdered sugar
- 1–2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C (360 F). Grease and line a 8 or 9 inch round cake tin with baking or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda and sugar. Add chopped apple and stir briefly to combine.
- In a separate bowl, add eggs, vanilla, oil and yoghurt. Whisk briefly just to break up the egg yolks.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and gently mix with a wooden spoon until combined – but be careful not to over mix. Spoon batter into prepared tin.
- To make cinnamon topping, combine cinnamon, sugar and butter. Mix together until lumpy and wet. Sprinkle over cake batter.
- Bake cake for approximately 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the glaze, mix together sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Stir until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, add an extra tablespoon of milk. Drizzle glaze all over the cake.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 389
Keywords: Apple cake, Cinnamon apple cake, One bowl apple cake
This was the first cake i tried to bake all by myself and it was a total success!! It’s so delicious and so easy!
★★★★★
Aww I love hearing that Amelia! Well done!
Hello Jess,
Thank you so much for this recipe. It is easy, comfy , healthy and delicious¨! After making it, my teenage daughter declared now it is her second favorite cake (the first being the carrot cake, unbeatable).
I made it with the cinnamon crunmble (delicious) and without the glaze. The result was a very homely buy not tww sweet cake. Nex time I’ll try adding some hazelnuts, as someone has suggested, or even pinenuts (very used in the Medierranean countries)..
Greetings from Catalonia!
★★★★★
Oh fantastic! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I love the suggestions you made as well – adding nuts would be lovely.
I made this cake and can I just say that this is one of the absolute best cake I have made till now? I’m not even exaggerating. It’s fluffy, soft and little apple pieces in every bite! And btw, I absolutely dislike apples.- but now if I have apples it’ll be this way. I’m now gonna go through other recipes ti make – so happy I came across your page! Thank you!
★★★★★
Aww this makes me so happy! Thank you for the lovely feedback Sabrina. I’m so glad you love this cake as much as I do!
I am wanting to try this recipe as it looks amazing, but I do need a little clarification.. Is caster sugar what we in the US call superfine sugar??
Hi Brandi, you can use granulated sugar instead of caster sugar if you like. It is a fine white sugar, I wrote a blog post about it you might find useful – https://www.sweetestmenu.com/what-is-caster-sugar/
Thank you for this easy to follow, delicious recipe. My daughter is a coeliac so used gluten free flour which didn’t alter the look or taste. Can’t wait to try out other recipes you have suggested. I will be recommending you.
★★★★★
Aww thank you so much Nicky! I’m so happy you enjoyed the cake – and love that it worked out gluten free as well!
Making my third one today but his time will have bigger pieces of apple and adding chopped hazelnuts.
★★★★★
Oh hazelnuts would be delicious!
Amazing taste and texture. I will stop buying store bought ones now 🙂
★★★★★
That’s amazing! Thanks for the lovely feedback!
What type of greek yogurt do you use vanilla or plain ? Do you have a certain brand you like to use?
Hi Scotti, I usually Jalna Greek natural yogurt in my baking. It’s plain not flavoured.
I started this recipe and then realised I had no oil so I used melted butter instead- so good. I use butter all the time now – I don’t alter any of the other ingredients and everyone loves it.
★★★★★
Awesome, thanks for the feedback Ange!
I together with my 5.5 year old baked it now probably 5 times in the last few months and it always comes out yummy. Whole family and friends loved it. .
We used less sugar and didn’t do the glaze but it was still delicious.
Thanks for this easy recipe.
Aww that’s lovely Soja! So glad you’ve been enjoying the recipe ❤️
Easy and delicious! Used vanilla non-Greek yogurt and sprinkled walnuts over cinnamon topping before baking. Will definitely make this again.
★★★★★
Brilliant! So glad you enjoyed it Pam!
This cake is so amazing! Everyone enjoyed it! I was low on some ingredients but it still turned out great. The Center was gooey and it tasted like a really good crumble.😋❤️
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed it Juliet!
This recipe was so easy to make and the cake turned out to be an absolute hit.
★★★★★
Amazing!. Thank you for sharing the recipe! I substituted for spelt white flour, brown cane sugar and coconut oil and it still was perfection, a bit too sweet for my taste so next time will use less sugar, but my boys did not complain about it being too sweet :). Thank you1!!!
★★★★★
Great, thanks for the feedback Jolanta!
It is a really good recipe I loved and all of my family did I recommended it . 💖💖💖
★★★★★
Amazing! Thanks Molly!
What an amazing cake. The best I have baked till date.
★★★★★
Awesome!!
So simple to make and delicious! It’s definitely a winner.
★★★★★
Yay! Thanks Nirusha!