This vegan apple cake is soft, moist, and packed with apple pieces. It's an easy, one-bowl recipe made with seven simple ingredients.
You won't believe how soft, moist and easy this cake is. We love it so much that we even made a whole-wheat one and one filled with our mouthwatering vegan custard.
Check out our best plant-based dessert recipes!
There are many ways to make vegan apple cake, and each country has its style and recipe. Here, we make one inspired by our favorite Italian apple cake. It's a family recipe and one of our favorite apple desserts.
You can enjoy this apple cake for breakfast (that's what Italians do), as an afternoon snack, as a dessert, with ice cream, or drizzled with our vegan custard.
The cake is easy to put together, soft, moist, and made with fresh apple chunks. It'll take you 10 minutes to prepare.
The thing is, you won't need fancy vegan ingredients to make this cake taste delicious. Instead, we developed it so that you can make it with a few everyday pantry staples.
We add a layer of apple slices on top to prevent the moisture from escaping the cake while it bakes. The apples on top look beautiful and taste delicious.
We love this apple cake so much that we even made a version filled with our vegan custard for extra moisture and deliciousness.
And for the more health-conscious, we prepared one with whole-wheat flour, which tastes wholesome and delicious too.
Ingredients
Apples
Use any apples you have at hand. However, keep in mind that sweeter apples will make a sweeter cake.
Flour
The first time you make this vegan apple cake recipe, we recommend using all-purpose flour. The cake turns out light, moist, soft, and irresistible.
However, we tested the recipe with wholewheat flour, spelt flour, and even 50% all-purpose and 50% wholewheat. In all cases, the cake turned out delicious. You can also make it with a gluten-free flour mix for cakes.
Sugar
White or brown sugar, both work. You can even use coconut sugar, although that's slightly less sweet, and you'll need about 25% more to achieve the same sweetness.
Non-dairy milk
We used unsweetened soy milk. You can substitute almond milk, oat milk, cashew, and other milk from nuts for soy milk.
Oil
For the best-tasting apple cake, we recommend using a neutral vegetable oil such as canola or sunflower oils. Refined oils are best for cakes because you can't taste them.
You can substitute water, unsweetened applesauce, vegan butter, vegan yogurt, or vegan buttermilk for oil.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is optional. We think it tastes delicious with apples, however, it does color the cake brown a bit. If you prefer to make an apple cake that is not brown, but sandy colored, then substitute a tablespoon of vanilla extract for cinnamon.
Other spices that work well with apple cake are grated nutmeg and ground ginger, although these will make the recipe less Italian.
Baking powder
Baking powder makes the cake rise and keeps it light and airy.
Powdered sugar
Powdered sugar or icing sugar is an optional ingredient. My grandma used to sprinkle it on top of the cake before serving it to make it look pretty, so I still do that. But that's entirely optional.
Instructions
Use a springform pan - the one that opens on the side - or a cake pan with a diameter from 8.5 to 9 inches / 21 to 23 cm. We use 8.5 inches/21 cm in the video.
If you have a different size pan check out the chapter below, "how to scale this recipe."
As a first step, oil the sides of your pan and dust them with flour. Next, line the bottom with parchment paper. It will prevent the cake from sticking. Then preheat the oven to 360°F or 180°C.
To a medium bowl, add the wet ingredients: plant milk, oil, and sugar. Whisk till the ingredients are well mixed.
Next, with a fine mesh sieve, sift in the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cinnamon (optional), and a pinch of salt.
Cinnamon note: cinnamon will make your apple cake brown. If you don't want that, substitute one tablespoon of vanilla extract for the cinnamon.
Tip: sifting the flours is a simple step that helps you make the cake lighter.
Whisk with a hand mixer for a few seconds till you have a smooth and thick cake batter. Do not over-mix, or the cake will turn out gummy.
You can also stir the batter with a whisk or a silicon spatula.
Add small apple pieces from 2 apples (about 11 ounces or 300 grams). Apples should be cored and seeds removed. You can keep the peel on.
Fold in with a spatula until the apple pieces are well incorporated into the batter, then pour it into the cake tin.
Cover the top of the cake with thin apple slices in a circular pattern, overlapping the slices a bit. Finally, sprinkle the apples with 2 tablespoon of sugar.
Bake the cake at 360°F or 180°C for 55 minutes to 1 hour on the center rack of the oven.
Take out of the oven and let cool down for about 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.
Variations
Extra moist apple cake with plant-based yogurt
If you'd like an even more moist apple cake, you can replace some plant milk with plant-based yogurt (like soy yogurt or coconut yogurt).
In this case, we recommend adding ⅔ cup (160 grams) of plant yogurt and ½ cup (120 grams) of plant milk.
Apple Cake with Custard Filling
You get all the comfort of a traditional apple cake and the surprise effect of a delicious custard filling.
First, make the custard following our recipe for vegan custard. Then after you pour 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 cover the top of the cake with thin apple slices in a circular pattern, overlapping the slices a bit.
Sprinkle the apples with 2 tablespoon of sugar, and bake the cake at 360°F or 180°C for 55 minutes to 1 hour.
Storage
Store vegan apple cake leftovers out of the fridge, at room temperature, for three days, covered in a cake container or in a plastic bag to keep it soft and moist.
It is essential to limit airflow to the cake to preserve its softness.
If you want to reheat the cake, you can do so in a preheated oven for 5-7 minutes 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.
How to scale this recipe
How to scale the ingredients
Easy! We calculated the scaling number for you. First, pick the pan size 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) | 0.22 |
| 5-inch pan (13 cm) | 0.31 |
| 6-inch pan (15 cm) | 0.44 |
| 7-inch pan (18 cm) | 0.60 |
| 8-inch pan (20 cm) | 0.79 |
| 9-inch pan (23 cm) | 1 |
| 10-inch pan (25 cm) | 1.23 |
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 ours.
For this reason, when baking any cake, you should always check the cake's core with a clean toothpick or skewer before you take your cake out of the oven.
To do that, insert the toothpick or the skewer into the center of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean and dry, your cake is ready. If the toothpick comes out wet, bake for a few more minutes, 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 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 lose some of its leavening power.
- Sift the flour while adding it to the mix. Sifting will break down any lumps and 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, your cake might deflate.
Questions
Yes, replace all-purpose flour with a gluten-free one, like a gluten-free all-purpose baking mix.
If you want a healthier vegan apple cake, 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 or butter and are dairy-free.
Yes. Just follow our recipe and replace the oil with the same amount of water or applesauce. It will work wonderfully.
We are not particularly eager to use egg replacements in our baking if it's not necessary because 1) they are expensive, 2) they are most often not needed, 3) they alter the texture and flavor of the cake, and non-vegans might not like them.
More vegan cake recipes
Rest assured that all our cake recipes are delicious and easy to make. You won't be able to tell they are vegan!
- Delicious vegan vanilla cake
- Easy vegan carrot cake
- Soft vegan lemon cake
- Vegan coffee cake (with actual coffee)
- Italian carrot and orange cake
- Incredible easy vegan orange cake (with orange curd)
- Vegan chocolate cake
- Melty chocolate brownie cake
Or check out our sweet recipes list for more plant-based cake and sweet ideas.
More Italian Desserts
We have some delicious vegan Italian desserts for you to try.
- Vegan biscotti
- Sicilian cannoli made vegan
- Vegan tiramisù
- Delicious vegan fruit tart
- Vegan ricotta pie with homemade vegan ricotta
- Vegan lemon tart
- Dairy-free panna cotta
- Strawberry tart with vegan custard
Recipe
Vegan Apple Cake
Equipment
- Springform pan or cake pan (diameter from 8.5 to 9 inches or from 21 cm to 23cm). We use 8.5 inch /21 cm in the video.
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 1 cup plant milk soy, almond, oats
- ¾ cup sugar plus 2 tablespoon to sprinkle on top
- ¼ cup vegetable oil sunflower oil, canola oil, or melted vegan butter
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups flour all-purpose, wholewheat, or 50% all-purpose and 50% wholewheat (see notes below for more info)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract with wet ingredients
- 1 pinch salt
- 3 - 4 medium apples (about 6 ounces or 170 grams per whole apple - 2 apples for the filling and 1 to 2 apples for the top)
Instructions
- Oil the sides of your pan and dust them with flour. Line the bottom with parchment paper.Preheat the oven to 360°F or 180°C.
- To a medium bowl, add the wet ingredients: plant milk, oil, and sugar. Whisk to combine.
- Sift in the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.
- Whisk with a hand mixer for a few seconds till you have a smooth and thick cake batter. Do not over-mix, or the cake will turn out gummy.You can also stir the batter with a whisk or a silicon spatula.
- Add small apple pieces from 2 apples (about 11 ounces or 300 grams of apple chunks). Apples should be cored and seeds removed. You can keep the peel on.
- Fold in with a spatula until the apple pieces are well incorporated into the batter, then pour it into the cake tin.
- Cover the top of the cake with thin apple slices in a circular pattern, overlapping the slices a bit. Finally, sprinkle the apples with 2 tablespoon of sugar.
- Bake the cake at 360°F or 180°C for 55 minutes to 1 hour on the center rack of the oven.Take out of the oven and let cool down for about 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.
Video Recipe
Notes
Nutritional Values
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Alice Lam
Hi Chef Nico, thanks for an amazing recipe! Easy to follow and absolutely delicious. I added 1/3c yoghurt and a little ground ginger. This is definitely one to make again!
Louise Valentin
Amazing Alice, we never tried with ground ginger - that sounds just perfect. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Liat
Hello chef Nico! I'm looking forward to making this cake for a family holiday next week. I'm wondering if I can make it in advance and freeze it, then warm it in the oven to serve? Or will it not freeze well? Trying to do as much ahead of time as possible. Thank you!
Nico
Hi Liat, yes you can freeze the apple cake! Make sure to freeze in a freezer-friendly plastic bag (just like you would with bread). Then thaw the cake in the fridge, and warm it up slightly in the oven. I hope that helps, enjoy your family holidays!! Cheers, Nico
Marsha
was the cake in the photo made with all plant milk or with partial soy yogurt as suggested in the substitutions?
Nico
Hi Marsha, thank you for your message. The photos of the apple cake is with partial soy yogurt. Although, the last couple of times, I've made the cake without yogurt, but with oat milk, it looks exactly the same. I hope you'll like it! Cheers, Nico
Anne
It was delicious, but I added less sugar. Regarding leaving the cake in the oven for an hour, mine was ready in 50 minutes. So keep an eye out just in case. It was browner than your picture, but was still moist.
Nico
Hi Anne, thanks so much for letting me know! I'm delighted that you like the cake - also with less sugar. Cheers, and have a great day. Nico
May
A beautiful cake that’s so delicious and easy to make! (I made the version with plant-based yogurt). Will definitely make this again.
Nico
Thank you May, we're so happy you liked the apple cake. Your version of it looked just beautiful on Instagram! Cheers, Nico
Vatana
A beautiful dessert! A co worker crowd pleaser! Easy to follow,this is a flavorful and delicious dessert and i will be making this over and over! It handles add ins well without affecting the density of the cake (I added shredded carrot). Love love love this new staple:)
Nico
Hi Vatana, I'm so delighted you (and your colleagues) like it - nothing better than a crowd-pleasing cake 🙂
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, it means a lot to us! Have a great rest of your week. Cheers, Nico
Sue
Hello Nico
This cake is so AWESOME!! I made it so many times already and always meant to but forgot to comment 🙁
I think it is the simplest, easiest and most delicious apple cake I ever made :)). It is my go-to recipe now 🙂
Thank you for the other simple and great recipes and keep up the great work!!
Chef Nico
Hi Sue! That is amazing, I am so happy you liked the cake. And especially, that it's a recipe you feel like re-making.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
Cheers,
Sue
Yana
Just made it for dinner tonight!
My cakes fail more often than not but this one turned out wonderfully! Thank you so much!
Nico
Yana, I am delighted to hear that!! Thanks for sharing with us 🥰
Nico
Thanks so much for letting us know Yana, so happy your cake turned out wonderfully!
Sarah
Have you tried with gluten free flour? Curious if it would work out…
Nico
Hi Sarah, thanks for your message. I haven't tried with gluten-free flour yet, but I've heard from 2 followers on our YouTube channel that made it gluten-free and liked it. I hope that helps a little. Cheers, Nico
Ellen
Made this over the weekend it looked beautiful but not very flavorful, I am not vegan but both my daughters are and they felt like it was missing something; needs more flavor any suggestions?
Nico
Hi Ellen, it might be that the apples were not the sweetest? I'd say you can add more sugar if you want to boost flavour. We usually don't use a lot of sugar and the taste might suffer a bit. Other than that, you could use a vegan butter that tastes more like regular butter instead of the vegetable oil, and add more aromas, like vanilla extract. Hope this helps 🙂
Priyanka Gupta Sarvaiya
We are vegans for the animals and planet and I am so happy I found your website... I wanted to whip up something quick for my husband's birthday and made this apple cake in our tiny 4 inch springform pan... the idea of scaling numbers is brilliant and made it super easy for even a super lazy occasional baker like me. The recipe was perfect and we simply loved the flavor... I am gonna be making this more often now.
Thank you so much!
Louise Valentin
Wow Priynka, I am delighted you made our apple cake for such a special occasion - even better: you liked it, YAY! Thanks so much for your feedback, glad to know the scaling table is helpful!
Kindest, Nico
Sara
Ciao da NYC 🙂 Appena fatta e mangiata: e' venuta molto bene ma....1) The batter was super dense. It didn't look like yours. How much almond milk should I add next time? 2) On which oven rack do you place the pan? Grazie mille!
Nico
Ciao Sara, grazie per il feedback. Allora, I just made it again with the exact same recipe both in US cups and Grams, using Italian whole wheat flour and oat milk and the consistency was perfect. So, I'd say there could be two reasons why yours turned out denser than the one you see in the video:
1) your flour is different than mine - it's possible that flours milled in the US or other parts of the world require more liquid than Italian flour. If this is the case, just add 2 to 4 US tablespoons (30 to 60 ml) of milk extra, until you reach the right consistency.
2) you whisked the dough too much. It really just needs to be mixed for like 30 seconds, or else the gluten will develop and the batter will be more like a dough.
For baking, use the central rack of the oven with this kind of cake.
Hope this helps 🙂
Nico
Stephanie
This was a lovely simple recipe! Tasted delicious!
Nico
I’m delighted to hear, Stephanie! Thank you for commenting 🙏
Cheryl
Hi Nico,
I followed your recipe exactly.
Your mixture was a thick liquid after mixing in the flour.
Mine was a thick dough.
Any suggestions please as to why mine was different? I used half all-purpose flour and half wholewheat flour.
Nico
Hi Cheryl, thanks for your feedback 🙂 I just made it again with the exact same recipe both in US cups and Grams, using Italian whole wheat flour and oat milk and the consistency was like in the video. So, I'd say there could be two reasons why yours turned out denser than the one you see in the video:
1) your flour is different than mine - it's possible that flours milled in the US or other parts of the world require a little more liquid than Italian flour. If this is the case, just add 2 to 4 US tablespoons (30 to 60 ml) of milk extra, until you reach the right consistency.
2) you whisked the dough too much. It really just needs to be mixed for like 30 seconds, or else the gluten will develop and the batter will be more like a dough.
One last thing, if you use US cups as I do, make sure to level off the flour in the cup with a knife.
Hope this helps,
Nico
Brian
Just made this cake. It turned out great and was delicious. Thank you for a great recipe.
Nico
Hi Brian, I’m happy to hear it turned out well. It’s my pleasure!
Patricia
Absolutely delicious! I made it with white whole wheat flour and water (actually,, half water and half apple brandy.) This recipe is a keeper!
Nico
Wonderful, Patricia! I am very happy to hear that you liked the cake. Thanks for commenting 🙂
Ann
Did you sub the water and brandy for milk or the oil? Thank you!
Anonymous
Fab recipe, turned out lovely!
Nico
So happy to hear you liked it. Thanks.
Rudy Sierra
Absolutely yummy and easy 🤩
You’re great !! With all the tips about conversion / ingredients and substitutes.
Your page is A1 ❤️
Chef Nico
Thanks, Rudy! Ahaha, I'm glad you like the recipe measurements (and our blog). Cheers, Nico