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







Gill says
Delicious light cake and I agree with another poster, the crumble topping with salted butter is scrummy. Didn’t bother with the extra sugar topping and it didn’t seem to lack anything.
One thing that would help is the actual weight of chopped apple.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you loved it Gill!
Clare Robinson says
Fabulous cake! Everyone loved it. Will definitely make this again!
Thank you 💗💗
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So happy to hear that Clare!
Suzanne says
Could you tell me if I cool this in the tin or take it out?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Suzanne, I usually leave it in the tin for 10-15 minutes and then remove it and place it on a wire rack to cool completely. Hope that helps!
Clare Robinson says
Really want to make this cake but haven’t got any yogurt. Is there a substitute or double up on something? Thank you!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Clare, for best results I recommend using either yogurt or sour cream if you can. If you scroll through the comments, you will find readers who have successfully used other substitutes though.
Clare Robinson says
Thank you, I went put for yogurt. This is the nicest cake I’ve made!!! I will be trying some more of your recipes.
Xxx
Fatima says
Hi jessica
I made your cinnamon apple cake
Thank you for sharing a wonderful recipe.
Cake was very moist
Just had some with my morning coffee definitely recipe is keeper
Will be making again and again
Thank you for putting recipe in grams really helpful as I live in uk
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Fatima! Thank you for your kind feedback!
Sherry says
Made this yesterday and this will be my go to recipe for apple cake, the only change I made was I didn’t have Greek yogurt, so I used vanilla yogurt and I used more apples..it was very good… Thank you!
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that Sherry!
Ara says
My family has crowned this apple cake king of cakes. We added sea salt to the crumble on top and that was a good addition. Thank you for this wonderful recipe. We will definitely make this again. It’s a perfect fall cake.
Jessica Holmes says
High praise! So glad you love it Ara!
Shannon says
Yes! I used salted butter in the cinnamon sugar mixture on top and the salt makes it so good.
Merryn says
Absolutely the best apple cake! I make it with gluten free flour and add chopped walnuts to the topping. Everyone that I have served this to has loved it and asked for the recipe. The only problem is that I have no idea how well it keeps as it has been consumed every time! 🙂
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing this Merryn!
Cici says
Amazing apple coffee cake. I added an extra egg and a 1/2 cup dried low sugar cranberries plus doubled the vanilla. I did the glaze but it wasn’t necessary and I prefer not too sweet of a cake. Even used 0% fat Greek yogurt. Excellent, moist results. A new standard!
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it Cici. Love the idea of adding cranberries – yum!
Sandra says
I baked this cake yesterday and oh my goodness what a perfect texture. The only mistake I made was not adding all the sugar. Baked goods can be too sweet for me and I used apples that had been prepared for turnovers and already had some sugar added to them. But, even given that, I should added all the sugar. Will definitely be making this again. What do you think about using this basic recipe and adding blueberries with maybe a layer of lemon curd? Thanks for the fantastic recipe, will be trying more.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Sandra! And I love the idea of adding blueberries and lemon curd – that sounds amazing!
Sandra says
A question about the oil. Where we live the only choice of a vegetable oil is sunflower. Do you think olive oil would be better or maybe it’s not neutral enough?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Sandra, any neutral tasting oil will be fine. Olive oil will work but I do recommend a mild tasting one if you can.
Michael says
I made this today. I doubled the recipe and added a 1/2 cup of black currants. It is delicious! I gave the 2nd one away to friends. They texted me, raving about how good it is. I didn’t have Greek yogurt so I substituted 1/2 regular vanilla yogurt 1/2 sour cream. It is so light and moist. The cinnamon sugar topping and the milk glaze add the perfect crunch.
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing this Michael! And so glad your friends loved it too!
Judith Bondie says
Excellent cake. Came out light and moist. I used 1/2 cup buttermilk (didn’t have yoghurt around) and 1 t kosher salt. Also, 2 cups of Fuji apples. I would make this cake again. I baked it in a 9″ x 9″ pan for 35 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Judith!
Margaret Axtell says
I made this cake and it the lightest moisted apple cake I have ever made. Delicious 😋
Jessica Holmes says
Aw love hearing that Margaret!
Deb says
Can you make this with self raising flour and just leave out the baking powder?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Deb, I haven’t tried myself but it could be ok. The ratio of flour to raising agent won’t quite be the same but it’s quite a forgiving recipe.
Lyssa Gransby says
Exactly as it said in the description. Very easy to make and came out moist and rich. I added cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg to the cake and added extra apples. I served at a dinner party with rqsoerberry coukis and Crete frail – delicious!
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that Lyssa!