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
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more amazing recipe ideas.
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.
Keri says
Brilliant recipe – I added a wee bit more apples (from our own tree!) & it definitely needed a good 45 minutes to bake through in my fan oven at 160°. This’ll be a go-to cake for me!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Amazing, so happy to hear that Keri!
Kiks says
Hi, dying to try this – is one Granny Smith apple enough for a whole cake ?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi, yes! I usually use the one apple I have leftover in my fruit bowl. If it’s a very small apple, I might use two.
Kiks says
Thank you and if I don’t have Greek yoghurt can I just use full fat white yoghurt
Jessica Holmes says
Yes!
Angela Bennett says
Mmmm
I used cooking apples and increased the sugar by 15g to compensate.
Absolutely gorgeous
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Angela!
Leanne says
should the greek yogurt be non-fat or whole milk?
Jessica Holmes says
Full fat is possible!
Helen Cake-god Dolling says
This is the best cake I’ve ever made. I have just made it twice over two days, as it kept running out; I might make another tomorrow…
It has been enjoyed by Mammah (aged 89) Loll (aged 7) and everybody in between. It’s deliciously moist, tasty and light.
I’m thinking about making another one right now…
Do you have a carrot cake version, with seedy bits and bobs?
Mmm, cinnamon apple cake… Thank you so much for this recipe. It beats every cake I’ve ever eaten! I feel empowered. I am cake-god!
Jessica Holmes says
This made me giggle! I’m so glad you and your family and friends enjoyed it Helen! I have an amazing Carrot Cake recipe you might also like, and most recently a Raspberry Almond Cake that’s just as good!
Zane says
Not to be dramatic, but I would die for this cake.
Just a question. If I make it double and bake it in larger cake shape, will it bake all the way through?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Zane, it depends on the size of the cake you use and how deep the batter will be. The deeper the batter, the longer it will take to cook.
Beatriz says
Fantastic cake! So fluffy yumm
I have used melted coconut oil instead of butter and I mix egg whites with the mixer an put flour through a strainer to help cakes turn out fluffy. I used Cox apples from our apple tree, they are more tangy rather that just sweet and I find this adds to the cake. I did add cinnamon to flour/sugar and added raisings and walnuts.
I am an unexperienced baker so am very pleased with the result and the fact that I can share it with family and friends 🙂 Beautiful cake – keeping the recipe
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so pleased you enjoyed it Beatriz! Thank you for your kind feedback.
Paul says
Disappointed. Not enough sugar and unnecessary salt means the cake tastes a bit bland/bready. Not a lot of apple either. I got confused with the “cup of roughly chopped apple” and ended up putting in 180g which, as it turns out, is actually a good proportion in the cake but it seems a cup is more like 110g. Which isn’t enough. And what is roughly chopped? I made the pieces about 1cm cube. I liked the mixing instructions which worked well and using oil and not bothering to pre-whisk the eggs made it easier. The cinnamon topping was really nice. I found I had to make the icing drizzle much thicker than the recipe suggests to stop it sinking into the cake.
★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Paul, sorry you didn’t enjoy it. Thanks for your feedback.
Elaine says
LOVE this cake! So do my friends, everyone raves about it! I often use half brown and half white sugar in the mix to give it a more robust flavour and I usually don’t bother with the glaze as the topping is so yummy anyway – it comes out perfect every time.
Just one question – will it freeze well?
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so glad you love this cake Elaine! And yes it does freeze well!
neha patel says
What can I substitute for eggs?
Jessica Holmes says
I haven’t tested this recipe without eggs I’m sorry.
Linda says
This wonderful Apple Cinnamon cake is truly a winner. It has become my go to cake for most occasions. It stays moist for days (if it lasts that long) and it is requested by friends and family constantly. Thank you Jessica for this amazing and delicious recipe.
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so happy to hear that Linda! I’m so glad it is loved by your family too. Thank you for your very kind review x
Madeleine says
Thank you for this recipe. It is very delicious and I served it as our Sunday dinner dessert.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Nikki says
Wow! This is the perfect taste, texture, moisture, everything! It is so good I emailed it to people unsolicited😆!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hahaha love that Nikki!!!
Candice Horley says
I used a Bramley apple it was fine. Maybe a little more topping but it was pretty good
★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
I’m glad you liked it Candice.
Fiona says
I used soft light brown and soft dark sugar instead of caster, and used demarara plus doubled the cinbamon for the crumble. I didn’t have any yoghurt so I used mascarpone cheese and the cake was to die for!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Wow, sounds amazing Fiona!
Amy says
I baked this cake to surprise my husband and our family loved it💕💕 It had the perfect amount of sweetness, delicious and loved that it was so easy to make too. Thank you so much for sharing such easy and delicious recipes.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so glad you and the fam enjoyed this one Amy!