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







Karen says
Can this be made in an 8X8 square pan?
Jessica Holmes says
Yes it can!
Karen says
Hi Jessica. Thank you for getting back to me about making this in an 8X8 square pan.
I should have also asked if there would be any changes in cooking time.
I’m thinking not, but would like your thoughts.
We love apple cake in our house. Thanks so much.
Jessica Holmes says
No worries at all Karen! The cake will be slightly thinner so may cook at little bit faster. You could maybe check it a few minutes before the suggested cooking time. Hope you enjoy it!
Dorothy Lenthall says
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made this cake twice. It was delicious and SO easy to make. I added a squeeze of lemon juice and used coarse granulated sugar for the cinnamon topping, for extra crunch. Superb!
Jessica Holmes says
Oh adding lemon sounds lovely! So glad you enjoyed it Dorothy.
Jan says
Love this recipe, soooo easy. I added cinnamon to the cake batter and left off the drizzle. Also used authentic thick Greek yoghurt which worked really well. Thank you Jessica, love your recipes.
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that Jan!
Kelsi says
This was my first time seeing ur channel also the first recipe i made of urs and WOW! This is my new favorite apple cake recipe 😋 I ended up using 2 cups of red delicious apples and added 3/4 cups of chopped pecans. Other than that there’s literally nothing I would change about your recipe . This made a great first impression of your channel 😍 I’ll definitely be checking out some of ur other recipes
Jessica Holmes says
How fabulous! So glad you enjoyed this one Kelsi – adding pecans sounds divine!
Hilla says
The cake was so easy to make. Wonderful recipe. I wonder how best to store it.
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Hilla. I recommend keeping the cake in an airtight container at room temperature.
Maxine Zdebiak says
Simply delicious!
Jessica Holmes says
Wonderful!
Kathy Sanchez says
Used almond flour instead of all purpose flour and it was a total game changer. The result was to die for! Also used vanilla greek yogurt (because I didn’t have plain on hand), so went a little light on the sugar to compensate; and halved the oil and used almond milk for the rest, and that worked great. Skipped the glaze because it was plenty sweet without it. So glad I made a double recipe!!!
Jessica Holmes says
Sounds amazing Kathy! I’ll have to try that next time.
Karen says
So easy, and delicious. We regularly get beautiful organic Royal Gala apples and I was looking for a recipe that uses raw apples. I’m so glad I found this!
Jessica Holmes says
Oh fab! So glad you loved it Karen!
Janet says
Will be one of my favourite go to cakes,,so easy & everyone loves it
Jessica Holmes says
That’s brilliant Janet!
Mmabore says
Thank you for the recipe I am going to try it 🤗❤️
Dee Daley says
What a beautiful Cake and easy to make. Thankyou so much for the great recipes. Moist cake and everyone loves it.
The beauty of this recipe you can make it when you don’t have many apples and you don’t have to buy different apple type, you use whatever you have.
Great to make up and freeze especially when you have apples to spare.
When we have lots of apples I make this and froze it. I did a test piece the day I baked the cake by cutting one slice and freezing it, took it out the next day allowed to thaw and was still beautiful.
Jessica Holmes says
I love hearing that Dee! So glad you enjoyed it as much as I do! And it does freeze well too, doesn’t it.
Vanessa Young says
LOVE this recipe, so quick and easy to make and super delicious to eat! Perfect for school lunch box treat too 😍
Jessica Holmes says
Yes! Love that!
Kjersti Westvik says
The cake is amazing, perfectly soft and moist with not to much apples. The topping with cinnamon was very enjoyable. My favorite apple cake from now! Easy to follow the instructions as well.
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Kjersti! Thank you for your kind feedback.
Rachael Hamilton says
Hey! I made this cake and it hasn’t set inside the cake after 35 mins. Now the tops burning. What do you think?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Rachael, it sounds like there may be an issue with your oven. Did you change the size of the cake? Otherwise, maybe double check your oven temperature using an oven thermometer and check the manual to ensure you have the correct setting for baking.
Laura says
Do you think you could use fat free fromage frais instead of the Greek yogurt, it’s just what I’ve got in my fridge ☺️ xx
Jessica Holmes says
I haven’t tried but I think it might? Let us know how you go!
Denise says
You can also use apple butter, apple sauce or even mayo in a pinch. Personally I like using apple butter instead of the yogurt.