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 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!
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.
Hilary White says
Can this cake be frozen.
Jessica Holmes says
Yes it can! It won’t keep that crisp top, but it’ll be lovely and fresh.
Catherine says
Such an easy and delicious cake. I love it.
Jessica Holmes says
Yay!
Abbey says
AMAZING 👏 Get compliments on this bake time and time again. Whenever I need something to whip up without faff – this is my go to recipe 😍
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Love that!!
JANICE says
Made this 2 days in a row. Super easy. My 8 year old daughter made it the second day. Very yummy!!! Moist and flavorsome. I even added some chopped peacan nuts to the butter mixture 5o drizzle over the top. I don’t do the glaze as the cake and drizzle is sweet enough already. I also only used half a cup sugar in the cake mixture and added a teaspoon if cinnamon the the flour as well.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Sounds amazing Janice! So glad you enjoyed it!
JANICE says
Came out awesome 👌 ny kids love it! My daughter even asked me to make it for her birthday lol
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hooray! Love that 🥳
Farida Pajnigar says
Superb recipe….each time I make the cinnamon apple 🍎 cake…it is appreciated by all!
Thanku
Jessica Holmes says
So welcome!
Sandra says
I made this cake ,so easy and so delicious, I used melted Becel , loved it
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Love that!
Margaret says
My daughter made this cake today. Lovely flavour and texture. Easy recipe to follow.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
That’s wonderful to hear Margaret!
Ian says
Made this cake for the first time today. My wife took it to her tennis club for morning tea. What a winner! Cake is moist, good texture.
I added half teaspoon of Gerwurzhaus apple cake spice mix to the batter. The tennis ladies loved it.
Many thanks Jess for sharing this recipe.
Kind regards, Ian.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
How good is that! So glad the tennis ladies enjoyed it Ian! Thank you for your feedback.
Jean says
My family and I LOVE this recipe!
It’s easy to make, and with the Greek yoghurt, and fresh apples, it almost ‘seems healthy-ish.
I’m sure the icing or topping (one or the other, but not both) could be eliminated in order to cut back on the sugar. I use Avocado oil, which is supposed to be one of the ‘healthier’ oils.
Either way, this cake is delicious! 🤗
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Fabulous! Love to hear those tweaks too Jean.
Ulises says
Super easy and delicious cake. I love this recipe, even if you are not an expert cooker, you can do it
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Love that! So glad you enjoyed it!
Tracey says
Awesome
★★★★★
Victoria says
I made your cake and it is very good. Just a note on the oil quantity, it reads 120 cl, I measured in cups and half a cup is equivalent to 120 ml not cl. I live in a country that uses the metric system so greatly appreciate you provide both options.
Jessica Holmes says
I’m glad you enjoyed it Victoria! I’m not quite sure what you mean by cl, I use ml in my recipe.
carol says
I have made this delicious cake many times. always moist and simply delicious!I have lots of blueberries so I am going to give them a try with this recipe.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad to hear that Carol – and a blueberry version sounds amazing!
Andre says
This recipe is amazing! Easy to do and delicious… It is perfect for brunch. I made a version with almond flour and it works great too. Five Stars 🙂
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Oh brilliant, love hearing that!
Verna says
I just made this cake it was lovely and moist. This is one of my lovely cake I ever made I will make it again. A slice of this cake with a cup of tea yummmy. Thank you for sharing this lovely cake.
Verna
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so happy to hear that Verna!