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







Ash says
I want to make this but I have no greek yoghurt, I would need to use oil instead. How much should I use? And which would be better, olive or sunflower oil? Thanks!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Ash, unfortunately you can’t use more oil instead of yogurt. You can use sour cream. Or if you need to, buttermilk. But Greek yogurt or sour cream is best!
Valerie Klipfel says
This is delicious, especially when served warm! :Due to Stay at Home orders of the Covid -19 pandemic in the US, I used ingredients that I already had in the pantry: organic bread flour, (difficult to find flour in stores currently) , granulated sugar, (I have not seen caster sugar in local stores) , added and an additional cup of green granny smith apples chopped, , 2 extra teaspoons of vanilla extract, plus added cinnamon to the cake batter as well. I made the cinnamon topping as stated but again used regular granulated sugar. I did not make the additional sugar topping, The cake itself has great favor and both tasted and smelled delicious coming out of the oven. Thanks for showing your experiment with various butters and oils. Interesting. May we all enjoy these wonderful recipes, renew our joy of cooking and stay healthy during this time.
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Valerie! Baking and cooking has been such a lifesaver during this time hasn’t it. Thank you for your kind review.
Sara says
Can I use olive oil ?
Jessica Holmes says
Yes that should be fine Sara!
Wendy W says
Just an update on this fantastic cake, which is worth sharing. Having kept it in a sealed container overnight, the topping went soft. 🙁 So I popped the piece of cake in a hot oven for 10 minutes before serving. It was warm and delicious, but, joy of joys, the topping was fresh and crunchy again! Happy days! 😀
Jessica Holmes says
Thanks for sharing Wendy!
Mohd says
This recipe is very simple and the cake is perfect,smell and taste .
will do it again and again.
thank you .
Jessica Holmes says
Aww so happy you enjoyed it!!
Alexandra says
Hi there,
Great recipe!! I gave it a try this weekend and I absolutely loved it. Two questions for you:
1) I’m trying to skim some of the calories off: I’d used 0% fat yogurt and it still tasted great, I`m wondering next time if I can use stevia instead or sugar? Trying to find a remplacement for the sugar, what do you think?
2) Out of curiosity, why not wait until last step to add the apples instead of mixing them with dry ingredients? Do you think that would make a difference? I also coated the apple in cinnamon before folding it in the dough, was really nice!
Thanks again for this great recipe!
Alex
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Alex, so glad you enjoyed the cake. I’ve never tried with stevia so I can’t say. And you can add the apples later if you like!
Mandy says
This recipe is mind blowing i was fed up with my hard crumbled cakes but today for the first time i got a super fluffy soft spongy cake with that heavenly cinnamon flavour and chunky apple bites .. thank you so much for the amazing recipe 😍 Much love from Delhi 🇮🇳 💓
Jessica Holmes says
So happy to hear that Mandy!
Irym says
Amazing cake!
Jessica Holmes says
Glad you liked it!
Wendy W says
What a dream! I live in the UK and used Stork margarine to make this cake. It is absolutely delicious. Brightened up a day in lockdown. Thank you.
Jessica Holmes says
Aw love hearing that Wendy!
Candi Vaughan says
I made the Apple cake this morning. I can’t wait to get a taste. It looks beautiful and seems to be very moist. I will post more after I taste it.
Jessica Holmes says
Hope you love it Candi!
Lesley Handford says
I made this cake last night for the first time.
Love it, and tastes even better today. I’m going to have to freeze most of it now, otherwise I will eat it all before tomorrow!! 😋😂😂
Jessica Holmes says
Hahaha love that Lesley! Thank you for the kind feedback!
Julia says
Fab recipe.
All the girls at the yard love it and keep pestering me to make it every week.
I also add a bit of cinnamon to the batter mainly because I love cinnamon 😍
Really quick and easy to make.
Jessica Holmes says
Aww I love hearing that Julia!
Tracy says
I would like to try this recipe today but I don’t have caster sugar. If I use granular sugar would it be the same measurements?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Tracy, yes you can swap granulated sugar for caster sugar – one for one!
Grumpy Baker says
I grind granulated sugar in a blender to substitute for castor sugar. It works well.
Donna says
Can you put it in a loaf pan instead?
Jessica Holmes says
Yes you could Donna, you’d just have to adjust the cooking time.
Elizabeth says
Just made this cake for an afternoon tea treat in the midst of UK lockdown. What a delightful cake. Thank you!
Jessica Holmes says
Aw so glad you enjoyed it Elizabeth!