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 using oil as the main fat. This is because oil tends to add moisture to baked goods, like in my Olive Oil Brownies or my Pistachio 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!
Watch how to make it
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.
Let’s Bake
Cinnamon Apple Cake
A tender Cinnamon Apple Cake drizzled with a milk glaze.
Ingredients
Apple cake
- 210 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) caster sugar or granulated 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 or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
Sugar glaze
- 30 grams (1/4 cup) icing sugar or powdered sugar, sifted
- 1–2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Grease and line an 8-inch round cake pan with baking or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt 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.
Angela says
Delicious, moist cake. Not too sweet! Easy to make! I didn’t put the glaze on, I left it at the cinnamon topping, very good.
Jessica Holmes says
Fabulous! So glad you enjoyed it Angela!
Neethu says
Hi, can I add walnuts to this recipe? If yes, how much should I add? TIA
Jessica Holmes says
Absolutely! I think 45 grams (roughly 1/2 cup) walnuts would be lovely!
Bonnie says
Forgot the stars!
Bonnie says
What a great recipe! Much better than others I have tried. I used a North American apple variety called Lucy Rose, and it has a tangy flavour and flesh inside is pink-red. It looked pretty and tasted so good even without the white glaze, which I had to omit as I was out of confectioners sugar. Thank you!
Jessica Holmes says
How wonderful! Love hearing that Bonnie!
Lynne says
Hey they..should I double the cake quantity [ingredients] if I was to to bake a sheet cake using this recipe.
Thanks
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Lynne, I’m not sure if it would be the right amount of batter. I recommend doing a bit of math and working out the volume – this article about cake conversions might help!
Bernie Smith says
Easy quick, light with a tender crumb. A winner
Jessica Holmes says
Brilliant Bernie!
Karen says
Love this cake….so easy to make!!! Does the melted butter needs to be cool as when added it to the sugar and cinnamon it melted them both so therefore wasn’t crumbly like sand??
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Karen, so glad you like this one! The butter doesn’t have to be completely cooled but if it melted the sugar it definitely was too hot. Try melting the butter just until it’s smooth, rather than super hot and bubbly – if that makes sense.
shelley says
Hey Jess! I would like to make this non-dairy. What can I use to replace the yogurt? I’m hoping to make this tomorrow (Mar. 1/2024) so I hope to hear from you soon. Thanks!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Shelley, I think your best bet would be a dairy free yogurt!
Dana says
Made it for a lunch party and I got so many compliments!!!
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that Dana!
Nelli says
I did this, and it was very easy to make. I added extra apples in because they were going to soft for my liking so they needed to be used. I didn’t do the glaze as I had the cake with custard. But it is a VERY nice cake and this will be done again!
thank you for the recipe
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Nelli – apple cake and custard sounds divine!
Lori says
Absolutely delicious – everyone asks me for the recipe when I take it to a get together. Thanks so much for sharing!
Jessica Holmes says
That’s wonderful to hear Lori! So glad everyone loves it!
raynie says
is this just regular greek yogurt ?
Jessica Holmes says
Yes that’s fine!
Caroline Bermingham says
Hi Jess,
I’ve just made you’re apple cinnamon cake again, and came out delicious, only thing was I used British gala apples and they didn’t fully soften is there a reason for this?
Also am I able to freeze this cake?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Caroline, perhaps the make-up of different apples makes a difference. I’ve used Pink Lady and Jazz apples and they’ve worked well. The size of your apple chunks will make a difference too – I’d consider chopping them a little smaller next time. And yes! It freezes really well!
Jules says
I love your Apple Cinammon cake recipe, have made it countless times and it’s always very popular. I’ve also added in a few raspberries and grated in orange rind to mix through the batter, and together with the apples it’s very aromatic when cutting into the cake and eating it. Yum.
Only problem I’ve had is the cake comes out of the oven beautifully, but then I find the middle sinks about 10mins later. Still tastes absolutely delicious but annoying that it doesn’t look perfect, so I must be doing something wrong.
Any thoughts?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jules, so glad you love this one! A raspberry orange version sounds amazing! My first thought with the sinking is simply that there is too much fruit. The cake has such a light and tender crumb that adding too much fruit will add too much moisture – causing it to sink as it cools. Here’s an article I wrote with a few other common reasons why cakes sink that might be helpful!
betty payne says
Yes .y cake sinks as it cools. Why?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Betty, the most common reason is underbaking the cake. The middle is the last place to cook through so if it’s underdone, it’ll sink once it’s removed from the oven. Adding too much fruit could also be a cause or expired raising agent. Here’s an article I wrote about why cakes sink that might be helpful.
Gabby says
Very easy and sooo tasty
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that!
Abby says
I am loving this recipe but I need some tips on how to stop my crumb topping sinking into the cake. It’s still absolutely delicious! Thank you. 💕
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Abby, so glad you love this one! The topping is designed to sort of sink in to the cake as it cooks so I think you are doing everything right!