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
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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
- 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.
Katherine says
I’m really looking forward to making this cake after reading the recipe and all the reviews.
Before I make it, I was wondering if the butter in the topping can be substituted (with oil)? My mum has a weird aversion/intolerance to butter… She can manage small amounts of dairy cooked or baked in things but just not butter! I’d like to make a trial cake before I make the butter version for my work crew, but my husband and I can’t eat the whole trial cake and I’d love to share it with my mum! I of course could make it without the topping, but that part sounds delicious too!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Katherine, so excited you are going to try this cake. Perhaps if you want to do the topping, it’d be best to use some kind of dairy free spread that’s similar to butter? I haven’t tried with oil so not sure how it would work – but could be worth a go!
Teresa Farrar says
Absolutely delicious. Butter mixed with cinnamon and sugar for the topping is a revelation.
Jessica Holmes says
Aw love that!
Lilivet says
I used oat flour and it was very tasty!
Thank you!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Helen says
Any suggestions for making this dairy free? Need to switch out the Greek yoghurt. Would coconut yoghurt work? Or almond milk?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Helen, I haven’t tried myself but I think it coconut yogurt could work? You might just have to test it – let us know how you go!
Adri says
I replaced the Greek yoghurt with cashew yoghurt, the butter with nuttelex and milk with oat milk to make it dairy free and it turned out great, only very slight, almost imperceptible taste of baking soda which didn’t particularly bother me and still much better than any store bought dairy free treats!
Chitra warrier says
I replaced the eggs with Greek yogurt. It’s one the most satisfying bakes for a newbie.. The family said that this was by far the best cake that they had eaten so far.. Thank you for sharing. All the way from Bangalore India. Delicious 🍰
Jessica Holmes says
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed it!
Iris says
Delicious cake. I made it today using ground panela instead of caster sugar. Thanks for the recipe!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Iris!
Lee says
Made this at our cabin. The ease of the ‘no mixer’ recipe was appreciated! It was a hit… everyone wanted a second piece. I had a couple leftover cinnamon-oatmeal-raisin cookies so crunched those up and added to the cinnamon topping before baking. This cake is easy to make, so moist and not too sweet – perfect! Will be making this again.
Just YUM!
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that! Thanks for the kind feedback Lee!
Sarah says
I made this tonight and was actually surprised it turned out yum with the yogurt! Except I think I put too much of either baking soda or baking powder as it’s got “that taste””.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Sarah, glad you enjoyed it! The acidity in the yogurt should neutralise any taste of the baking soda – hope you find that’s the case next time!
Lisa says
The best apple cinnamon cake, had to make it again the next day for my family. Absolutely fantastic
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it Lisa!
Emma says
This is a delicious and easy to make cake. I didn’t have any fresh apples so used a tin of apples instead and chopped them up before adding them to the flour. I didn’t bother with the glaze as my 2 and 3 year old wouldn’t stop pestering me for some cake. Hot out of the oven it tastes like apple pie. I was tempted to have some with heavy cream on top! Thank you for the great recipe.
Jessica Holmes says
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed it Emma!
Cortney says
Already commented. Just forgot to give my 5 star rating!!
Cortney says
This is a delicious cake. I happened to have a bunch of extra Granny Smith apples from my shop. We make A lot of caramel apples. Turns out they were great in this cake as well. Not only was it a delicious cake it bakes up so beautifully too. I’ll definitely be making it again.
Jessica Holmes says
Aw so happy to hear that Cortney! Thank you for your kind review!
Radha Raghunath says
Awesome cake. By mistake I added one cup of sugar and didn’t glaze. It turned out just like the pic.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Radha!
Wesley says
Thank you so much for such a great recipe. Made this last weekend and it was so quick and easy and so tasty! Tonight have made a further 3! Two to take to work and one for home..
Jessica Holmes says
Aw love hearing that Wesley – three wow, well done! 👏🏻
Dream bakes says
Super moist and soft. Loved it. But am going to try with some more Apple and cinnamon next time.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it!