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







Ro says
Holy smokes so delicious! Simple recipie and simple ingredients. Looks so pretty when finished baking 😍 will add more apples next time.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Ro!
Gabriella Calabro says
I’ve been searching for a good apple cake recipe and this is definitely the best ever. Easy to make just love the cinnamon crunch. Thank you
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad you enjoyed the cake Gabriella.
jeff says
So easy to make and the Family love it.
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad to hear that Jeff!
Zanele says
I have never made such a satisfying cake in my life… its so moist and crummy, and the apples, the cinnamon and sugar glaze adds pockets of a sweet surprise. Thank you for the hard work you put in to bring us this recipe.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you love it as much as I do Zanele!
RebeC says
Sorry but all i felt in the cake was sugar. Too much sugar and the Apple is not enough.
Grace C says
Does this cake freeze well
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Grace, yes it does.
Faith says
I like it! Easy and yummy. Did not make the glaze as I thought it was unnecessary. Thanks for the recipe.
Jessica Holmes says
Glad you enjoyed it Faith!
Jesse says
Hi jess, can I double this to make a bigger cake? It’s absolutely divine but never lasts as everyone loves it so I want to make a higher cake with smsller slices 🙂
Jessica Holmes says
Hey Jesse, so glad you like this cake! I haven’t tried doubling this recipe myself but it should be ok.
Alia Arafa says
It seems perfect but I am confused re sugar ! Do we just put sugar in the cinnamon topping and not with the flour and batter itself !!!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Alia, the sugar listed under ‘apple cake’ is added as part of the cake batter in step two. The sugar listed under ‘cinnamon topping’ is for the crumble that’s sprinkled on top. I hope that helps!
Paula says
Just made this cake and it is delicious outstanding. I didn’t change anything just followed the instructions.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad to hear that Paula!
Kim says
Made this cake three times now and prefer butter mix not oil. It really is delicious and great for sharing with friends and family 😍
Best results in my oven is 40 minutes on 160 degrees and the topping is fabulous using 2 tablespoons of double cream with 50 grams of icing sugar totally moorish!
Will make this cake over and over, thank you for sharing👍🏻
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Kim!
Meg says
Really good…moist and tender! I used brown sugar (healthier)- a little less than amount called for for both the cake and the glaze. Used regular unflavored yogurt instead of greek (that’s all i had in our ref) and unbleached whole wheat flour. With all my substitutions, will lessen cooking time to 28 mins nxt time and increase cubed apples to 1 and 1/3 cups. All things said, we loved it!
Jessica Holmes says
Love that! Thanks for the feedback Meg.
Mary Davey Morley says
I was craving apple cake and this was the best cake I have ever made! Bravo! Trying it with pineapple today.
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! Thanks Mary!
Ashitha says
Delicious yummy easy quick light cake.
Thanks a lot for sharing.
Bless you.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you like it!
Gill says
Love this cake, so light and not too sweet. Tastes great chilled the day after or warm with a dollop of custard. Thank you, delicious and easy to make.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it.