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 used oil as the main fat. This is because oil tends to add moisture to baked goods, like in my Olive Oil Brownies or my Malteser Chocolate 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!
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PinDescription
A tender Cinnamon Apple Cake drizzled with a milk glaze.
Ingredients
Apple cake
- 210 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) caster 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
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
Sugar glaze
- 30 grams (1/4 cup) icing or powdered sugar
- 1–2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C (360 F). Grease and line a 8 or 9 inch round cake tin with baking or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, baking soda 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.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 389
Keywords: Apple cake, Cinnamon apple cake, One bowl apple cake
I had a bunch of apples no one was eating so I looked up apple desserts and yours looked the most inviting and the simplest! Followed this recipe to T except I added a pinch of salt and only made the cake (not the toppings). It came out perfect! We met up with friends at the beach and everyone loved it, they loved how moist it was and that it was not too sweet. Thanks for sharing!
P.s adding yoghurt to the mix really does something magical to baked goods
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Dahlia! I love that you took it the beach 🏖 And yoghurt is amazing in baked goods isn’t it!
A BIg hit !
I used doubled tge chopped apples. It doesn’t last long in our house.. easy to make and scrumptious!
Jessica you should be Truly Scrumptious x
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed it Pixie!!!
This is RIDICULOUS. I was trying to find a way to use up the apples from our tree and came across this recipe. I made two cakes yesterday, and I’m making two more on demand today! My husband’s work crew killed an entire cake with coffee before 8 am , fought over the last piece, and requested one more! AND… my 14 year old son who “ewwwwwed, ick, apples in cake!” ate half of a cake and begged me for another.. This will stay in the rotation for sure!’
★★★★★
Heather, I love this review so much! And I love it when you can turn haters into lovers, all thanks to a delicious apple cake 😉 Thank you for trying one of my recipes!
Loved the recipe. Do you think it could be made as muffins instead?
Hi Brenden, yes I think so! Or you could try my Blueberry Muffin recipe and add apples instead of blueberries –
https://www.sweetestmenu.com/big-blueberry-crumble-muffins/
Can I use sour cream or creme fraiche since I don’t have yogurt
Yes you can use sour cream instead of yogurt Eliza.
I have made this recipe 4 times recently and it is a hit with everyone. The recipe is easy to follow and foolproof..
I ended up using 2 cups of chopped apples in the cake and I added 1Tablespoon of flour to soft butter for the topping. I felt it was easier to sprinkle it on top of the batter and gave a little more texture on top. I just made 3 of these wonderful cakes for a school fund raiser. And I’m sure they will be a hit. Thanks for the great recipe.
★★★★★
Wow! I love hearing that! Thanks so much for the lovely feedback Mimi. Hope your fundraiser goes well! ☺️
What is caster sugar. Could I use granulated sugar?
Hi, yes you can. Here is a blog post I wrote about caster sugar you might find helpful –
https://www.sweetestmenu.com/what-is-caster-sugar/
Hello Jess, That was a fabulously easy and straight-forward cake mix! I have so many apples this Autumn, that I needed to make a quick easy apple cake! Using oil was also far easier than using butter! So thank you for the “Tips & Hints”!! I will give your carrot cake a go too!
★★★★★
Aw so please you enjoyed it Andrea! The oil really does make a big difference. Thanks for your feedback 🙂
Great recipie
Came out well
Had to adjust the cooking time to 50 min.
★★★★★
Thanks Arvind, glad you enjoyed it!
Turned out perfect. Great for fall treat with friends and coffee! Thank you.
Love that! Glad you enjoyed it Richard!
This is in the oven right now as it seemed the perfect cake to compliment my beautiful Canadian apples. I would like to pass on that anytime you are using oil in a recipe like this you can half it with applesauce. My husband has a real aversion to yoghurt in any form so I used half oil half applesauce.
Ooh great feedback, thanks Hillary!
Would sour cream work instead of Greek yogurt?
Hi Julie, yes absolutely!
Definitely a winner!! Very easy to make. Don’t have castor sugar and substituted brown sugar and it worked.. Lovely flavour.
★★★★★
Love that Tania! So glad you enjoyed it!
Hello, would plain yoghurt work okay instead of Greek?
Hi Lauren, yes that would be ok!
Hi, I would like love to try this recipe as a loaf cake. Would that work?
Hi Medha, yes I think that would be fine! You will just have to adjust the cooking time.