This vegan apple cake is soft, moist, and packed with fresh apple chunks. Itโs an easy one-bowl recipe made with just seven simple ingredientsโno fancy vegan substitutes needed!
For more easy and delicious vegan cakes, check out our vegan carrot cake, vegan lemon cake, easy vanilla cake, and lemon blueberry cake.
Why you’ll love this recipe…
Inspired by Italian apple cake, this family recipe is perfect for breakfast, a snack, or dessert with ice cream or vegan custard.
We think you’ll love it because it’s:
- Quick to prepare in just 10 minutes and in one bowl.
- Packed with apples to give it flavor and keep it moist.
- Made with pantry staples.
- Affordable. Did you see the price of eggs these days?
- The layer of apple slices on top keeps it extra moist and adds a beautiful finish.
Louise and I love it so much we also turned it into a healthy apple bread, made vegan apple muffins, and filled one with vegan custard for extra richness ๐คค.
Ingredients
Find complete ingredient list, quantities, and substitutions in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
- Apples: You can make this cake with any apple variety. We recommend sweeter varieties such as fuji, golden delicious, and pink ladies for a sweeter cake.
- All-purpose flour: Substitute whole wheat flour, spelt flour, or mix half all-purpose and half whole-wheat. Use a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour mix for cakes to make it without gluten.
- Sugar: You can use white or brown sugar.
- Almond milk: Substitute another non-dairy milk like oat or soy milk.
- Olive oil: Substitute another vegetable oil such as avocado, canola, and sunflower oil. For oil-free use apple sauce in the same amount.
- Cinnamon
- Baking powder: essential to help the cake rise in the oven.
- Vanilla extract & lemon zest: optional for more aroma.
Notes on Baking Pans
You can use different cake pans to make this cake. Here are some ideas:
- 8-inch (20 cm) cake pan for a tall cake (it takes a few minutes longer to bake)
- 8.5-inch (21 cm) cake pan. That’s what we usually use.
- 9-inch pan (23 cm) for a shorter cake (it takes a few minutes less to bake)
You can also make apple muffins with the same batter by using a 12-muffin tin and baking for 25 -27 minutes.
Variations
- ADD YOGURT: For a moister cake, swap some plant milk for yogurt. Use 2/3 cup (160g) plant yogurt and 1/2 cup (120g) plant milk.
- ADD CUSTARD: Have you ever tried apple cake with custard inside? Make vegan custard, then pour ยพ of it over the batter in the pan. Swirl gently with a knife. Top with thin apple slices in a circular pattern, sprinkle with 2 tbsp sugar, and bake at 360ยฐF (180ยฐC) for 55โ60 minutes. It’s so good!
- SWAP PEARS: You can substitute slices of pears for the apples.
How to make vegan apple cake
Line cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 360ยฐF or 180ยฐC.
To a mixing bowl, add almond milk, olive oil, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk until well combined.
With a fine-mesh sieve, sift in the flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt.
Whisk or mix 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.
Cinnamon note:ย You can add 1 – 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the batter, but it will color your cake brown. We prefer adding vanilla and lemon zest to the batter and cinnamon on top.
Add small pieces from 2.5 apples. The apples should be cored and the seeds removed, but you can keep the peel on.
Fold them with a spatula until then pour batter into the cake tin.
Coverย the top withย thin apple slices arranged in a circular pattern, overlapping the slices a bit.
Finally,ย sprinkleย the apples withย 2 tbsp of sugar mixed with a teaspoon of cinnamon.
Bake on the center rack of the oven at 360ยฐF (180ยฐC) for 55 minutes to 1 hour.
A skewer inserted in the center should come out mostly dry. If it doesn’t, keep baking in 5-minute increments.
Take it out of the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan and cooling it for at least 1 hour.
Tips
- Cinnamon: for more cinnamon flavor, add 2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter. Keep in mind that the cake will have a brown color if you do so.
- Don’t overmix to avoid a dense, gummy texture. Stop once the ingredients are combined.
- Work quickly after adding baking powder, as it starts activating immediately.
- Sift the flour to remove lumps and add air for a lighter cake.
- Don’t open the oven for the first 30 minutes to prevent deflation.
- When baking, place the cake pan on a baking rack, not a baking tray, because the tray will get too hot and will overcook the base of the cake.
Frequently Asked Questions
Baking time varies by oven, milk, and flour type. Check doneness by inserting a toothpick into the centerโif it comes out clean, the cake is ready. If wet, bake a few more minutes and recheck.
All plant-based milks work well. We use almond because we like the flavor. Soy milk gives and excellent structure and has a more neutral flavor. Oat milk and rice milk work well too.
Absolutely! Keep in mind that the cake will be denser and brown. Not everyone likes that! Our advice would be to use half whole-wheat and half all-purpose flour for a more balanced cake.
You can substitute water or apple sauce for olive oil. Same quantities.
Room temp: 4 days under a cake dome or in a plastic bag.
Refrigerator: up to one week.
Freezer: up to three months. Let it cool down completely before freezing.
Reheat: if it gets dry after storage, reheat for 1 minute in the microwave to make moist again
More easy apple recipes
Breakfast
Apple Cinnamon Rolls
Desserts
Baked apples
Desserts
Apple Crumble
Breakfast
Apple Cinnamon Muffins
If you tried this Vegan Apple Cake recipe or any other recipe on our blog, please leave a ๐ star rating and let us know how it goes in the comments. We love hearing from you!
Vegan Apple Cake
Equipment
- cake pan We use 8.5 inch /21 cm in the video. 8 or 9 inches also works.
Ingredients
- 4 apples divided, 2ยฝ for the filling and 1ยฝ on top.
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ยพ cup sugar plus 2 tbsp to sprinkle on top
- 1 cup almond milk
- ยผ cup olive oil or another vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extra
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ยฝ lemon the grated zest (optional)
- โ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Line cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 360ยฐF (180ยฐC).To a mixing bowl, add 1 cup almond milk, ยผ cup olive oil, ยพ cup sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extra and the grated zest of ยฝ lemon. Whisk until well combined.With a fine-mesh sieve, sift in 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, and โ teaspoon salt.Whisk or mix with a hand mixer for a few seconds until you have a smooth and thick cake batter. Don't over-mix.
- Add small pieces from 2ยฝ apples. The apples should be cored and the seeds removed, but you can keep the peel on.Fold them with a spatula, then pour batter into the cake pan.
- Coverย the top withย thin apple slices from the remaining apples, arranged in a circular pattern, overlapping the slices a bit.Finally,ย sprinkleย the apples withย 2 tbsp of sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
- Bake on the center rack of the oven at 360ยฐF (180ยฐC) for 55 minutes to 1 hour.A skewer inserted in the center should come out mostly dry. If it doesnโt, keep baking in 5-minute increments.Take it out of the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan and cooling it for at least 1 hour.
Video
Notes
- Apples: You can use any apple variety. We recommend sweet varieties like fuji, pink ladies, and golden delicious.
- Almond milk: Substitute another plant-based milk.
- Olive oil: Substitute another vegetable oil like canola or sunflower oil.
- All-purpose flour: You can also use half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose. Substitute gluten-free flour to make the cake GF.
- Cinnamon: for more cinnamon flavor, add 2 teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter. Keep in mind that the cake will have a brown color if you do so
- Donโt overmixย to avoid a dense, gummy texture. Stop once the ingredients are combined.
- Work quicklyย after adding baking powder, as it starts activating immediately.
- Sift the flourย to remove lumps and add air for a lighter cake.
- Donโt open the ovenย for the first 30 minutes to prevent deflation.
- When baking,ย place the cake pan on a baking rack, not a baking tray, because the tray will get too hot and will overcook the base of the cake.
- Room temp: 4 days under a cake dome or in a plastic bag.
- Refrigerator: up to one week.
- Freezer: up to three months. Let it cool down completely before freezing.
- Reheat: if it gets dry after storage, reheat for 1 minute in the microwave to make moist again
Nutrition
Hi! We are Nico & Louise
Weโre here to share delicious, easy, and healthy plant-based recipes (vegetarian & vegan) ๐ฟโจ.
Welcome to our blog, we are glad you are here.
Thank you for providing your insight into this situation!
Should I refrigerate the cake after it cools? (I filled mine with the custard from the recipe you posted).
Hi Malkah, how wonderful – yes please store the custard filled cake in the fridge. Custard require a cool climate to remain stable, so keep it in the refrigerator until you’re ready for the next slice ๐
Hi Louise,
Thank you for replying. My cake actually cooled down in the early hours of Sunday morning, and has been outside of the refrigerator since. I wonder if the cake isn’t safe to eat anymore?
Hi Malkah! I don’t know your location and timezone, so it’s difficult to advise on food safety not knowing how many hours it’s been sitting there.
However, with custard (even egg-free), it is safest to store in the fridge. If it’s been stored in room temperature for 2+days, I would not recommend eating the cake – just to be on the safe side ๐
I hope this helps. All the best from us ๐ฅฐ
Love all the recipes you share. It gives me so many healthy choices and ideas as to what to cook. Thank you for sharing!
The cake turned out looking so pretty. Just a question though. My cake is half the height of yours it looks more like a torte. Yours looks a good four to five inches tall.
I followed your recipe to the โTโ working very quickly, sifting, gentle stirring, and measured ingredients very carefully. And although it is tasty and looks lovely it is nowhere near as tall as your pictures! Any idea why? All suggestions gratefully received.
PS. I sprinkled the cinammon on top with the sugar to solve the colour issue.
Hi Pauline,
Firstly: well done, it sounds like you did a beautiful job ๐
So, our apple cake is 3 inches tall, and we used an 8-inch cake pan. We made it again yesterday to measure it ๐ So my guess would that you used a larger cake pan? Another explanation could be that your baking powder was not the freshest. What do you think?
Let me know ๐ค
WOWโฆmy neighbor returned from the Ga. mountains this morning and brought us some delicious apples just picked. I made this vegan apple cake right away.
Thank you so much for a fantastic cake which I made without a trip to
the grocery store and which was easy to make. My non-vegan husband and
dog loved it as much as I did.
I made this recently. It is delicious and also looks lovely too. Like mentioned by a previous reviewer, I also used 2 tsp of cinnamon and 1 tsp of vanilla. I will definitely make this apple cake again. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Fantastic, Nikki!! It’s great with the cinnamon, so cozy to bake and to eat ๐ฅฐ
Thank you for taking precious time to comment here.
DELICIOUS & EASY! Made this yesterday for dinner at my daughter and son-in-law’s. Oh, and I shared it with a few neighbors. So delicious. I did cut cinnamon to 2 tsp and added 1 tsp of vanilla. Thank you for such a delicious “first day of Fall” creation. ๐
Amazing, Linda, so delighted that everyone enjoyed the cake. What a beautiful way to meet and connect with family and neighbors.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Made this twice in a couple of weeks. Everyone loves it and remarkably simple to do. This is a keeper.
Fantastic, Sheryl!! Great news, I’m so happy that you shared it with people around you.
Thank you for taking the time to comment here ๐ฅฐ
We made this cake which is incredibly easy but used Chocolate discs on the top to give it an additional flavour- everyone loved it ; so it was a 5 star success
Recipe so tasty and delicious, thank you for sharing.
Amazing, Andrea!! I’m really happy you enjoyed the cake ๐โค๏ธ