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.
Gigi says
Love this recipe, I did however make a couple tweaks, as this was the second time I made it and the first time I followed to the letter, but I thought it could use a bit more apple, so I used two pink ladies, and I also substituted apple sauce for the oil. It’s a great substitution and can be used 1.1 ratio. Came out beautiful.
Jessica Holmes says
Wonderful to hear! Thanks for the feedback Gigi.
Sheila says
Made this as a gift for a friend, they thoroughly enjoyed it and said there was only one problem with it! It was too moreish!!! Thank you for sharing it.
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that Sheila!
Hend Kim says
OMG, it is so delicious, this is will be my best recipe.
Thank you for the Yummy Apple cake. 💕
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad you liked it!
Susana Nugent says
Very light cake. Substituted apples with rhubarb as I had a lot of rhubarb from the garden. Turned out really good.
Jessica Holmes says
Oh love that! Rhubarb sounds lovely.
Lynne says
Absolutely delicious. I added a little extra apple to my second cake.
Jessica Holmes says
Love that Lynne!
Nayana Gunasekera says
Hi, made it today as my Valentine cake, a double batch, for all my loved ones at home and they all relished it! In SriLanka apples are exotic, because they don’t grow here, so the cake was a special treat for us. Thanks for the recipe!
Jessica Holmes says
Aww how special! So glad everyone enjoyed it.
Patricia says
Easy deliciousness I doubled the apples only difference I also made this with my 5 year old granddaughter it was simple and fun ;)))
Jessica Holmes says
Aw love hearing that Patricia!
Chris Russell says
Absolutely delicious, very easy to make. It is a very moist cake. Only suggestion would be to make more icing for the top.
Jessica Holmes says
Awesome, thanks for your feedback Chris!
Siobhan says
Delicious! I made a half batch because we have no self control in this house.
Jessica Holmes says
Great idea!
Jessie says
Dying to make this one…but can you taste the yoghurt at all? Or is it more for texture? My mum hates yoghurt and seems to be able to taste it in everything!
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jessie, I definitely can’t taste the yogurt. It should be mostly sweet cinnamon and apple. Give it a go!
Nicola says
Made this cake on a snowy day . Super easy recipe and the cake tastes amazing! Thank you 😊
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that Nicola!
Hilary says
Greetings from a very cold and wet Windsor, England! I was looking for a recipe to use up a couple of apples and came across yours. Super easy and delicious 😋. Thank you 😊
Jessica Holmes says
Aw so happy to here that Hilary!
Sonja says
I’ve baked this cake many times over the last two years or so and it always turns out delicious!
The last few times I used half wholemeal and half white flour and around 120gr coconut sugar and it is still great.
Thanks for this amazing recipe.
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that Sonja!
Kathleen welch says
I’ve made this cake twice now it dissappears really quickly I will definitely make it again and for the comment about making it w/o eggs I was out the 2nd time and used 1/2 a cup of applesauce which I have used in the past as egg substitute came out great !! Thanks for this great recipe
Jessica Holmes says
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback Kathleen.
Lauren says
UGH GOD so easy to make and delicious!! Perfect with coffee. Friends loved it. A new favorite!!
Jessica Holmes says
Yes Lauren! Love that!