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.
Aeronwy says
Can you use apple sauce if you have no yogurt?
Jessica Holmes says
I haven’t tried!
Sharon says
Hi can you use half apple sauce instead of oil
Jessica Holmes says
I haven’t tried I’m sorry!
Thomo says
This is a must try for sure. I just grabbed this recipe and didn’t read the reviews and I was not disappointed at all. I did it as a test for a function and got rave reviews. It was tender, moist, not sweet just overall yummy. Oh, its bookmarked.
Jessica Holmes says
Brilliant! Love that!
Liesa says
The best apple cake that I have ever made. Very light and moist. I went by the recipe but added a few raisins, walnuts and 2 apples. I didn’t have Greek yogurt so I used vanilla yogurt.This recipe is a keeper!
Jessica Holmes says
Fantastic, glad you enjoyed it Liesa!
Ouma Lawrence says
Best apple cake I have ever eaten ,loved it 😃
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! Love that!
Mike McGuire says
Very very nice.
Kel says
Fantastic recipe! I added a pinch of nutmeg to the cake batter (I’m incapable of following a recipe exactly), and used two apples instead of one. No issue with the extra moisture. Saving this and will absolutely be making again!
Jessica Holmes says
That’s great Kel! So glad you enjoyed it!
Eliza says
This is truly the best apple cake i have ever baked ! It’s so delicious and easy to make ! Everyone who eats these always comment about how good they taste 🙂 I often don’t have greek yogurt so i use regular and the cake comes out amazing !
Jessica Holmes says
That’s wonderful to hear Eliza!
Erin says
I’ve made this cake more than 20 times and every time it comes out delicious! I’ve also made it substituting the apples with blueberries and it is equally incredible.
Jessica Holmes says
That’s fantastic Erin! I’ll have to try a blueberry version myself!
Lola says
Absolutely fab cake, so moist and flavoursome, so tasty everyone asks for more. Easy to make, although mine always take around 50mins to cook.
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Lola. And thank you for your feedback re: cooking time.
Aimee says
Hi Jess,
Can this cake be made to stack?
I would like to stack 3 cakes which will be 1 x 8 inch high
Will this recipe be too soft/crumbly to hold the weight?
Thanks,
Aimee
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Aimee, it’s hard to say without trying it myself, but yes I do think it might be a bit too soft and tender to stack.
LeslieKunhardt says
Delicious. Perfect balance in sweetness.
Moist crumb. Just a perfect cake to pair with a cup of coffee
LeslieKunhardt says
Did not rate my previous comment.
A keeper !!!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Leslie!
Sandra Bluej says
I made it and added about 1/2 teaspoon of grateful lemon zest, 1 tsp or so fresh lemon juice. Cake was good but a little too sweet. I used honey crisp apples. Such a simple recipe. Really love it but maybe I need a more tart apple.
Jessica Holmes says
Thanks for the feedback Sandra! You could definitely try experimenting with different types of apples. I like to use pink lady apples.
Alison Palmer says
Thought I’d followed recipe to the letter but the cake is still in the oven (180) after an hour. Not sure what I’ve done wrong
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Alison, did you use a different size pan? Otherwise you might want to get hold of an oven thermometer to double check your oven temperature.
Kel says
A guess- if you are in the USA and have a Fehrenheit oven, setting it to 180 would be way too cold. Make sure you are using 350F like the recipe says 🙂
Karen says
I’ve made this fabulous cake many times. I now use a bit less sugar in the batter, add the grated rind of a couple of lemons and use the juice to coat the apple pieces and thin the sugar glaze, instead of milk.
I also use brown sugar and mixed spice for the topping.
Thank you Jessica. I have made this recipe my own. Everyone absolutely loves it. ❤
Jessica Holmes says
Sounds magical Karen!
Maria says
I used homemade apple sauce instead of butter milk due to dairy allergy. It came amazingly
Jessica Holmes says
Oh that’s great to know!