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, like in my Easy Peach Cake, 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.
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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
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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 or flavourless 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 sugar, cinnamon 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 Information
Serving Size: Calories: 310 Sugar: 25 g Sodium: 143.8 mg Fat: 14.1 g Carbohydrates: 42.7 g Protein: 4.8 g Cholesterol: 42.2 mg







Linda Romano says
Have a question…may I substitute pears for the apple? I don’t have a regular 8″ baking pan and wondering if an 8″ oven safe frypan will do? Thanks.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Linda, absolutely you can! Or you might like to try my Pear Cake recipe. I haven’t tried baking this one in a frypan before but it could be worth a shot!
Lynn says
I made this today but it just wouldn’t seem to cook in the middle . I left it in the oven for longer than stated and it still wasn’t cooked properly in the middle hence it sank when cooling. I didn’t cook it on fan oven as I find this can cook the top to quickly. I used conventional oven. What was cooked was very light and delicious so you can imagine I was disappointed.
I don’t know what went wrong
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Lynn, so sorry to hear that! I’ve found in my experience that my cakes sink in the middle when they are under-baked like you mentioned. I usually cook this one using the fan-forced setting on my oven and find it cooks evenly. Perhaps you could try that next time and if it starts to over-brown, consider loosely covering the top with a piece of aluminium foil towards the end of the bake time?
Mary says
This is an absolutely fantastic recipe. Used apples from my garden. I was going to take a picture but my grandson was in the kitchen as icing was finished and announced to everyone…… cake ready! I doubled the quantity and made in a large flan dish. Cake was all eaten except for 2 bits and which went in goody bags😋😋
Jessica Holmes says
How amazing is that! This makes me so happy Mary!
Jess C says
I love love love this recipe. Simple, easy, and so delicious. Made this for a family event recently and got a lot of compliments. Didn’t have yogurt so I used sour cream and it came out great. Thanks for sharing!
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! Love that Jess!
She says
Hi – may I use a mix of olive oil and vegetable oil as I don’t quite have enough of vegetable? Thankyou
Jessica Holmes says
Absolutely!
Joyce says
The cake is delicious. Thank you
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Joyce!
Doria Lenicky says
I am going to make this cake this coming holiday as a present to a few people, it looks wonderful! One question – your recipe calls for a red apple. I have only ever seen green apples used for baking. The reds are too mealy while the green are firm. Can green be used or would it affect the final product too much? Thanks!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Doria, great question. I’ve actually found that both work well in this recipe! Go ahead and use green here – enjoy!
Terry Karns says
Do you have the adjusted ingredient quantities for a 9×13 pan version?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Terry, doubling the recipe will work!
Mandy says
This is a delicious cake! I used both an apple and a pear, and also added some cinnamon to the batter itself. I used an 8 inch cake tin, but the side was only an inch tall, so I had some spillage. That cooked cake on the oven mat was very yummy and had me eagerly waiting for the cake to be finished. I didn’t even let it cool before I dug into the pan. I just realized as I was typing this that I forgot the glaze! Guess I will have to make it again.
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! This makes me so happy Mandy!
Alison says
Love this cake. I’ve made double in a large rectangular pan as well as the 8inch and it’s perfect. Also tried with gluten free flour. A bit less risen but still really good.
Jess, can I make as cupcakes please? Do the apples cook enough with what I presume is a shorter time? Thanks.
Jessica Holmes says
How wonderful to hear that Alison! You can definitely make it into cupcakes. I do something similar with my Apple Muffin recipe.
Kim Trentham says
Does this apple cake freeze well?
Jessica Holmes says
It sure does Kim! I just prefer to add the glaze when you are ready to serve.
Ceejay Young says
I’d love to make this cake with apples from our neighbor’s apple tree, but all I have is a 6 inch cake pan with 3 inch sides. Do you think that would work?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Ceejay, it could be close! I’d fill it as much as you can while leaving plenty of room for it to expand – and then potentially use the rest of the batter to make an extra cupcake or two?
Roberta Smith says
I made the Apple cinnamon cake. The drizzle did not work. I used at least 3/4 cup icing sugar and the milk and yet it was so runny. It just sank into the cake. I will try it again and use a lot less milk.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Roberta, sorry to hear that! I’d start small next time with a teaspoon or two of milk until you get your desired thickness. Thank you for trying one of my recipes!
EssexCaz says
To make it a little healthier I added oats to the flour and reduced the sugar. I also added oats and flour to the cinnamon topping to add a bit of crunch. It’s turned out lovely and I’ll definitely make it again.
Jessica Holmes says
That’s wonderful to hear!
Livies says
Cake was nice and moist. The next time I make this cake, i’m going to double and use a bundt pan.
Thank you
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it!