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.
Sue says
Awesome recipe best cake I’ve made in a long time
Jessica Holmes says
So happy to hear that Sue!
Sue says
Loved it. I didn’t use the glaze as I thought it would be sweet enough. Delicious and great for using up windfalls from the garden.
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad to hear that Sue!
Sarah says
Everyone loved it!! Very easy to make and turned out just like the photos. It was really delicious! I’ll definitely be making that again. I added a bit more apple than the recipe said as I had loads to use up.
Jessica Holmes says
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it Sarah!
Zari says
Very good😗😗😗😗
Frankie says
Amazing! Made this the other day and it was absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for the recipe Jessica. My only issue was that the cake sunk a little in the middle towards the end of baking. What could have caused this? I made sure not to overmix and followed the recipe to a tee. Thanks again! Love your website!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Frankie! Cakes can sink for a number of reasons, but in my experience its often because they are slightly under baked. Maybe try cooking it for a little bit longer next time. You can also make sure you spread the crumble out evenly so it doesn’t all sink into the middle. Hope that helps a little!
Frankie says
Thanks for the reply and helpful tips Jessica. Can’t wait to try this amazing recipe again x
Ruth says
The cake was wonderful thank you. My friend gave ne some very bruised windfalls which I used.
Can I ask, if you want to substitute oil for butter what should the ratios be? For instance if the recipe requires 4oz of butter how much oil should you use?
Thank you.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Ruth, so pleased you enjoyed the cake. I recommend sticking to the recipe for best results as the oil keeps the cake very moist. In some recipes you can swap oil for butter 1:1 but this is not always the case so each recipe needs to be tested individually.
Zeina says
So yummy! I’ve tried maybe two other apple cinnamon recipes and they failed and I never tried again till today. I randomly picked your recipe and read the reviews and decided fo give it a go! so glad I did cuz it’s a winner! I only skipped the sugar glaze cuz I didnt want too much sugar and it was a blast! thank you for your hard work. Definitely saving this recipe and remaking it soon!
Jessica Holmes says
So happy to hear that! Thank you for your kind review Zeina!
Marcy Tarder-Stoll says
Made it tonight A bigt hit-so easy, so moist, so yummy!!!
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! Love that Marcy!
Joanne says
could I use self raising flour and take out the baking powder and soda?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Joanne, the quantities of raising agent to flour wouldn’t quite be the same.
Angela says
I’d like to make this for a picnic and think it would transport better in a loaf shape. Any tweaks for baking it in a loaf tin? Thanks
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Angela, just the cooking time will need to be altered. It will be ready when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Kat says
New to baking and I liked the texture of the cake as it came out looking great! However when I cut it open I noticed that some of my apple pieces in the cake turned pink. Is that normal/ ok? Seems like no one else had this issue. Also there wasn’t much of apple flavor, so I’m guessing that’s just the type of apple I used or perhaps I just need to add more? Thank you!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Kat, I haven’t had that happen to me before, so perhaps it was the type of apple like you mentioned. You can definitely add more apple if you like. Some readers have mentioned they like to double the apple.
Sharon says
I have just made this cake for the 1st time today, I didn’t read any of the reviews before but sounds like I’ve made a good choice..
I haven’t tasted it yet as it has just come out fo the oven but the house smells divine.
Has anyone frozen it & it comes out tasting as good as when 1st baked? I have an apple tree in my garden & I’m trying to cook them all by freezing the puree but thought a few of these cakes in the freezer would be great.
I have saved your site Jess as it looks like you have some fab things to make on here & I love cooking & baking 🙂
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Sharon, so glad you are happy with the cake! It is definitely a reader fave! It does freeze quite well in my opinion, but I always think cake does taste the best fresh from the oven. Thank you for trying one of my recipes!
Sharon says
Jessica, I agree with you cakes are best fresh from the oven, although I do like to keep 1 or 2 in the freezer for days when you fancy some cake but don’t want to bake or you have unexpected friends coming over for coffee
Jessica Holmes says
Couldn’t agree more!
Deena says
I baked the cake at 2:30 am and it turned out delicious and so cozy (i knew it from the taste of the batter!) plus it has the perfect amount of sweetness!! I recommend to try it ! Yum ! How about posting easy strawberry pastries Please ! I love your recipes
Jessica Holmes says
Aw love that Deena! Nothing like a bit of midnight baking. Add I’ll add strawberry pastries to my to-do list!
Denise says
Can canned apples be used and how much?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Denise, I haven’t tested the recipe with canned apples. They may make the batter a bit wet – but could be worth a try!
Amy says
Truly one of the most delicious cakes i’ve ever made. I have made it four times! I use two apples, add a bit of cinnamon to the cake batter too, and now add a pecan streusel to the top. It doesn’t need it but why not 🙂
Such a great recipe.
Jessica Holmes says
Aw love hearing that Amy! Such a nice idea to add pecans as well!
Elona says
II’ve been searching for recipes I can adjust for artificial sweetener (my boyfriend is diabetic). It’s really really difficult to bake without sugar! Who knew??
This recipe is perfect for the switch! Perfect!
Everything stayed the same except:
1. For the cake I added two tablespoons of liquid sweetener to the apple mix
2. Added 12 crushed stevia tabs to the crumble topping instead of sugar (and some chopped walnuts just for fun)
I know that apples have natural sugars but it’s ok.
I hope this comment helps someone out there.
As a side note, if this comes out this good without sugar, I can only imagine how it would be with sugar!!
Jessica Holmes says
Awesome! Thanks for your feedback Elona!