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This vegan apple cake is soft, moist, and full of fresh sliced apples. It's a 1-bowl easy recipe, made with simple ingredients. You won't believe how soft and easy this cake is. We love it so much that we even made a whole-wheat one and one filled with mouthwatering vegan custard.
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There are many ways to make vegan apple cake, and each country has its own style and recipe. Here we make one that is tall, soft, fluffy, moist, made with fresh apple slices, mixing all the ingredients in a bowl and then baking it in a round shape.
Two quick tips: we add plant-based yogurt in the batter to make the cake extra moist. Also, we add a layer of apple slices on top to prevent the moist from escaping the cake while it bakes. The apples on top also look beautiful and taste delicious.
We love this apple cake so much that we even made a version that is filled with our vegan custard, and one made with whole-wheat flour so that we can even eat it for breakfast. You won't believe how soft and easy this cake is. Here's a web story for this apple cake.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Flour: we use all purpose flour. We also tried half all-purpose and half whole-grain flour and it's great.
- Yogurt: we use soy yogurt. You can replace it with any other plant-based yogurt.
- Sugar: white or brown sugars both work. You can even use coconut sugar.
- Milk: we use soy milk. You can replace it with any plant milk.
- Oil: we use sunflower oil. You can replace it with any refined vegetable oil. Refined oils are best for cakes because you cannot taste their flavour.
- Baking powder: to help the cake rise.
- Apples: we do not care too much about the type of apple, you can totally make this vegan apple cake with any apples you have at hand.
- Aromas: cinnamon (1tsp), nut meg (¼ tsp), vanilla extract (1tsp). These are totally optional and we only add them during winter season to spice things up.
How to make vegan apple cake
For this cake you'll need a spring form pan - the one that opens on the side - or a cake pan that is 7 inch / 18 cm. If have a different size pan check out the chapter below "how to scale this recipe".
As a first step, oil your pan and dust it with flour. This will prevent the cake from sticking. Then preheat the oven to 360F or 180C.
In a bowl, add the yogurt, sugar, plant milk and oil. Whisk till the ingredients are well mixed together. At this stage you can also add your aromas and spices if you want to.
Now sift the flour and the baking powder and add them to the bowl with the liquid, ⅓ at the time, while mixing with a spatula.
TIP: try to mix with a circular movement from bottom to top of the bowl, like if you are trying to incorporate air into the dough. This will make the cake lighter. Do not over-mix or your cake will get heavy.
When the ingredients are well incorporated add small apple pieces from 1 apple. If you apple is small you can add up to 2 apples. Apples should be peeled. Mix with the spatula until the apple pieces are well incorporated into the batter.
Now pour the cake batter into the cake pan and cover the top of the cake with apple wedges. We do a circular pattern, overlapping the wedges a bit. Then sprinkle the apples with 1 to 2 tbsp of sugar or cinnamon sugar.
Bake the cake at 180C / 360 F for 1 hour. Take out of the oven, let cool for at least 1 hour. Then sprinkle with some powdered sugar if you want.
TIP: bake on a baking rack, not on a baking tray, because the tray will get too hot and might overcook the base of the cake.
How to scale this recipe
How to scale the ingredients
This recipe is easy to scale. We calculated the scaling number for you. Pick the pan size that you want to use for your cake, then multiply all the ingredients in our recipe box at the bottom of the page by the scaling number in this table.
| Pan size | Scaling Number |
|---|---|
| 4 inch pan (10 cm) | 0.31 |
| 5 inch pan (13 cm) | 0.52 |
| 6 inch pan (15 cm) | 0.7 |
| 7 inch pan (18 cm) | 1 |
| 8 inch pan (20 cm) | 1.23 |
| 9 inch pan (23 cm) | 1.6 |
| 10 inch pan (25 cm) | 1.93 |
How to scale cooking time
The cooking time suggested in this recipe is for a cake pan that is 7 inches (18 cm) in diameter. Depending on the size of your cake pan, you might need to adjust temperature and cooking time.
Smaller cake pan: if you use a smaller cake pan (less than 7 inches / 18 cm), keep the same temperature but bake for shorter time. About 5 minutes less per inch. Always check with a toothpick if the cake is fully baked inside.
Bigger cake pan: if you use a bigger cake pan (more than 7 inches / 18 cm), you need to reduce the temperature and increase the baking time. My advice is to bake at 170C / 340F for the first 50 minutes, then reduce temperature to 160C / 320F until your cake is fully baked inside. Always check with a toothpick if the cake is fully baked inside.
How do I know if my cake is fully baked?
Depending on the type of oven, type of milk, and type of flour, your cake will take more or less time to cook than our cake. For this reason, when baking ANY cake, you should always check the core of the cake with a clean toothpick or skewer before you take your cake out of the oven.
To do that, just insert the toothpick or the skewer in the centre of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean and dry it means that you cake is ready. If the toothpick comes out wet, then bake for a few minutes longer, then check again.
Tips
- Do not over-mix. Over-mixing will result in a heavy, gummy cake. If you want your vegan apple cake light and fluffy then just mix till the ingredients are incorporated and no more.
- Try to be fast. From the moment you add baking powder to the cake batter, try to finish the cake and bake it as fast as you can. This is because the baking powder starts working as soon as it touches the cake batter and if you leave it out for too long without baking, you'll loose some of its leavening activity.
- Sift the flour while adding it to the mix. This will break down any lumps and will help you incorporate air into the cake. In turn your cake will be lighter and fluffier. You can sift with a regular kitchen sieve.
- Do not open the oven. At least during the first 30 minutes of baking or your cake might deflate.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, replace all purpose flour with a gluten free flour mix, like a gluten free all-purpose baking mix.
If you want a healthy vegan apple cake then we suggest you replace all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour, and reduce the sugar amount. Vegan cakes are already healthier than regular cakes as they don't contain eggs, butter or milk.
Yes. Just follow our recipe and replace the oil with the same amount of water. It will work wonderfully.
I do not like to use egg replacements in my baking if it's not necessary, because 1) they are expensive, 2) the are most often not needed, 3) they alter the texture and flavour of the cake and non-vegans might not like them.
Storage
This vegan apple cake keeps for 2-3 days out of the fridge, covered in a cake container or you can even store it in a plastic bag to keep it soft and moist. It is important to limit airflow to the cake in order to preserve its softness.
If you want to re-heat the cake, you can do so in a preheated oven for 5-7 minutes in order to make it softer. Even after several days, when you reheat the cake, it will still be as soft and warm as when you prepared it.
Variations
Wholegrain Apple Cake
We replace all purpose flour with whole-grain flour and unrefined cane sugar. You can keep the measurements the same as in the classic version. The result is a soft and moist cake with a stronger sugar aroma and wheat flavour. We love to eat this one as a mid morning snack, and sometimes even for breakfast.
Apple Cake with Custard Filling
We use our proven and loved vegan custard recipe to fill this cake with even more deliciousness. If you want to impress someone and prove to them that being vegan is truly awesome, then this is the cake for you. You get all the comfort of a traditional apple cake, and the surprise effect of a mouthwatering custard filling.
First make the custard following our recipe for vegan custard. Then after you poured the cake batter into the cake pan, pour the custard into the batter.
With a knife, or a skewer, swirl the custard around the batter. Don't mix it too much. Then like before cover the top of the cake with the apple wedges with a circular pattern, overlappig the wedges a bit.
Then sprinkle the apples with 1 to 2 tbsp of sugar, and bake the cake at 180C / 360 F for about 1 hour.
For other delicious vegan cakes, check out our:
- vegan vanilla cake
- double sheet chocolate strawberry cake
- ricotta pie with homemade vegan ricotta
- lemon tart
- vegan coffee cake
- no-bake vegan cheese cake (no-nuts)
- orange cake
Recipe
Vegan apple cake
Equipment
- Springform pan or cake pan (18cm / 7inches)
Ingredients
- 300 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 180 g (¾ cups) soy yogurt
- 150 g (¾ cups) sugar (plus 2 tbsp to sprinkle on top)
- 100 g (½ cups) plant milk soy, almond, oats
- 50 g (¼ cups) vegetable oil sunflower, canola
- 16 g (1 tbsp) baking powder
- 3 big apples
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar optional for topping
Instructions
- As a first step, oil your pan and dust it with flour. This will prevent the cake from sticking. Then preheat the oven to 360F or 180C.In a bowl, add the yogurt, sugar, plant milk and oil. Whisk till the ingredients are well mixed together. At this stage you can also add your aromas and spices if want to.
- Now sift the flour and the baking powder and add them to the bowl with the liquid, ⅓ at the time, while mixing with a spatula.TIP: try to mix with a circular movement from bottom to top of the bowl, like if you are trying to incorporate air into the dough. This will make the cake lighter. Do not over-mix or your cake will get heavy.
- When the ingredients are well incorporated add small apple pieces from 1 apple. If you apple is small you can add up to 2 apples. Apples should be peeled. Mix with the spatula until the apple pieces are well incorporated into the batter.
- Now pour the cake batter into the cake pan and cover the top of the cake with apple wedges. We do a circular pattern, overlapping the wedges a bit. Then sprinkle the apples with 1 to 2 tbsp of sugar or cinnamon sugar.
- Bake the cake at 180C / 360 F for 1 hour. Take out of the oven, let cool for at least 1 hour. Then sprinkle with some powdered sugar if you want.TIP: bake on a baking rack, not on a baking tray, because the tray will get too hot and might overcook the base of the cake.
Full video on youtube @theplantbasedschool
Notes
Nutritional Values
Related recipes
Did you try this recipe at home? Let us know in the comments below, or take a picture and tag us on Instagram @italiaplantbased.
Anonymous
Fab recipe, turned out lovely!
Nico
So happy to hear you liked it. Thanks.