The Ultimate Guide to the Easiest, Most Delicious Vegan Apple Cake

Is there any smell in the world better than apples and cinnamon baking in the oven? It’s the official scent of autumn, of cozy sweaters, and of feeling perfectly content. When that aroma fills your home, it’s like getting a warm hug from the inside out. For a long time, you might have thought that getting that perfect, moist, and fluffy cake required a ton of butter, milk, and eggs.

Well, I’m here to tell you that you can get all of that comfort and joy in a cake that is 100% plant-based. This Vegan Apple Cake isn’t just a “good for being vegan” cake. It’s a “this is one of the best cakes I’ve ever had, period” cake.

This recipe is your new secret weapon. It’s a humble, rustic cake that’s packed with four whole apples, making it unbelievably moist and flavorful. It’s simple enough to bake on a random Tuesday but special enough to serve to guests. It doesn’t require any weird ingredients, just pantry staples. You don’t need a stand mixer, and you don’t need any complicated steps.

If you’ve been looking for that perfect, simple, and satisfying dairy-free dessert, your search is over. Grab your mixing bowl. Let’s make something amazing.

What Makes This Vegan Apple Cake So Magical?

In a world of complicated desserts, this simple cake stands out. Its magic comes from a few key things that make it a total game-changer for plant-based baking.

It’s Packed with REAL Fruit

This isn’t a cake with a hint of apple. We’re using four apples, and we’re using them in two different ways. First, we fold chopped apple pieces right into the batter. As the cake bakes, these pieces soften and release their moisture, basically steaming the cake from the inside out. This makes the crumb incredibly tender and creates little pockets of sweet, appley goodness.

Second, we arrange beautiful, thin apple slices on top. These slices create a stunning, rustic look and they caramelize under a sprinkle of cinnamon-sugar as they bake. You get the soft, baked apples inside and the slightly chewy, caramelized apples on top. It’s the best of both worlds.

Unbelievably Moist Without Eggs or Butter

How do you get a rich, moist cake without the traditional baking fats like butter and eggs? This recipe has two secrets. The first, as we mentioned, is the massive amount of apples.

The second is using olive oil (or another vegetable oil). Unlike butter, which is about 80% fat and 20% water and milk solids, oil is 100% fat. This coats the flour in a different way, which shortens the gluten strands and results in a crumb that is exceptionally soft and tender. This cake stays moist for days—if it lasts that long!

A Truly Simple, One-Bowl Wonder

This is the perfect recipe for new bakers or anyone who just doesn’t want a huge mess. You mix your wet ingredients in a large bowl. You sift your dry ingredients right on top. You mix, you fold, you pour. That’s it.

There’s no creaming of butter and sugar. There’s no adding eggs one at a time. It’s a straightforward, no-fuss recipe that delivers incredible results. It’s the definition of a “snack cake,” meaning it’s just as good with your morning coffee as it is for dessert.

Choosing Your Star Player: The Best Apples for Baking

A great apple cake starts with great apples. But which ones should you buy? You might be surprised to learn that not all apples are created equal when it comes to baking.

Sweet vs. Tart: Finding the Perfect Balance

The best baking apples have two main qualities: a firm texture and a good balance of sweet and tart flavors.

• Texture: You need an apple that will hold its shape during its long bake in the oven. If you use a soft apple (like a McIntosh), it will just turn into a mushy, watery pulp. A firm apple will soften beautifully but still keep its shape, giving your cake a wonderful texture.
• Flavor: A little tartness is your friend! A purely sweet apple can make the cake taste flat or one-note. A tart apple provides a zesty “zing” that balances the sugar in the batter. It makes the apple flavor pop. For this reason, my favorite approach is to use a mix of apples, perhaps two tart and two sweet.

My Top Apple Picks for This Cake

• Granny Smith: The classic, #1 baking apple. It’s very tart and incredibly firm. It will hold its shape perfectly and provide that wonderful zesty balance.
• Honeycrisp: A fan favorite for a reason. It’s fantastically crisp and has a perfect sweet-tart flavor. It’s a great all-purpose apple for this recipe.
• Braeburn: A wonderful choice that is crisp, sweet, and has an almost spicy, nutmeg-like flavor. It holds up very well in baking.
• Pink Lady (or Cripps Pink): This apple is firm, crisp, and has a great tangy finish. It’s another reliable choice that won’t turn to mush.

Apples You Might Want to Avoid

• Red Delicious: This is the big one to skip. While it looks pretty in the grocery store, it has a mild, watery flavor, a tough skin, and a mealy texture that breaks down when baked.
• McIntosh: A great apple for applesauce, but not for this cake. It’s far too soft and will disintegrate, leaving you with a watery, mushy texture.
• Golden Delicious: This one is on the fence. It can be okay if it’s all you have, but it tends to lose its shape and is on the softer, sweeter side.

Want to learn more? Check out this handy guide on the best apples for baking from a trusted culinary source.

Gathering Your Plant-Based Pantry

One of the best parts of this easy vegan recipe is that it uses simple, common ingredients. You probably have most of them in your kitchen right now.

Your Full Ingredient List

Here’s exactly what you’ll need to make your cake.

Ingredient	Amount	Notes
Apples	4 (total)	Divided: 2½ for filling, 1½ for topping.
All-Purpose Flour	2 cups	Standard all-purpose works perfectly.
Granulated Sugar	¾ cup	Plus 2 tbsp for the topping.
Almond Milk	1 cup	Unsweetened is best. See notes for subs.
Olive Oil	¼ cup	Or any neutral vegetable oil.
Baking Powder	1 tablespoon	Yes, one tablespoon. This gives it lift!
Vanilla Extract	1 tablespoon	Use pure vanilla for the best flavor.
Cinnamon	1 teaspoon	This gets mixed with the topping sugar.
Lemon Zest	½ lemon (grated)	This is optional, but highly recommended.
Salt	⅛ teaspoon	Just a pinch to balance the sweetness.

Ingredient Deep Dive: Why These Ingredients Work

Let’s look a little closer at the key players in your dairy-free dessert.

H4: The Flour

We’re just using regular all-purpose flour. Nothing fancy. It provides the perfect structure for this cake—tender, but sturdy enough to hold all those apples. When you measure your flour, the best method is to fluff it up in the bag, gently spoon it into your measuring cup, and then level it off with the back of a knife. This prevents you from packing in too much flour, which can lead to a dry, dense cake.

H4: The “Milk” (Almond Milk & Substitutions)

The recipe calls for almond milk, and unsweetened is the best choice so you can control the sugar level. Almond milk is light and has a fairly neutral flavor that lets the apple and cinnamon shine.

Can you use a different plant-based milk? Absolutely!

• Soy Milk: This is a great choice. It’s a bit richer and creamier than almond milk and will add a little extra richness to the final cake.
• Oat Milk: Another fantastic option. It’s creamy and has a natural, mild sweetness that works beautifully here.
• Canned Coconut Milk: I would not recommend using the thick, canned coconut milk for this recipe. It’s very heavy and has a strong flavor that will overpower the delicate apple.

H4: The Fat (Olive Oil vs. Other Oils)

Using olive oil in a cake might sound strange, but it’s a classic trick in many Mediterranean recipes. A light, mild olive oil (not a peppery, extra-virgin one) can add a wonderful, fruity background note that pairs surprisingly well with the apples.

If the idea of olive oil in your cake is just too weird, or if you only have a strong, peppery one, don’t worry. You can substitute it 1:1 with any neutral-tasting vegetable oil.

• Canola Oil
• Sunflower Oil
• Grapeseed Oil
• Melted Coconut Oil (refined, so it doesn’t taste like coconut)

H4: The Spices (Cinnamon, Vanilla, and Lemon Zest)

These are your flavor power-ups. The vanilla extract adds that warm, bakery-shop aroma. Using pure vanilla extract instead of imitation will give you a much deeper, more complex flavor.

The cinnamon is essential. Here, it’s mixed with sugar and sprinkled on top, where it creates that irresistible, crunchy, caramelized crust.

The “optional” lemon zest? In my opinion, it’s not optional! You don’t taste the lemon, but what it does is brighten all the other flavors. It makes the apples taste more “appley” and cuts through the sweetness, keeping the cake from tasting flat. It’s a tiny step that makes a huge difference.

Your Step-by-Step Guide to the Perfect Vegan Apple Cake

Alright, you’ve got your ingredients. Your kitchen is starting to smell good already. Let’s walk through this, step by step.

Step 1: Prep Your Oven and Pan

First, preheat your oven to 360°F (180°C). This is a slightly unusual temperature, so double-check your dial. Getting the oven hot before the cake goes in is key to making it rise properly.

Next, prepare your cake pan. A 9-inch round pan is perfect. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. This is the #1 trick to guarantee your cake never sticks. You can trace the bottom of the pan on the parchment and cut it out. Then, you can lightly grease the sides of the pan.

Step 2: Mix the Wet Ingredients (The Flavor Base)

In a large mixing bowl, add all your wet ingredients:

• 1 cup almond milk
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• The grated zest of ½ a lemon (if you’re using it!)

Grab a whisk and mix these together well for about 30 seconds. You want to make sure the sugar starts to dissolve and the oil and almond milk are well combined.

Step 3: Sift the Dry Team

Place a fine-mesh sieve (or a sifter) over your large bowl of wet ingredients. Add your dry ingredients to the sieve:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Sift these ingredients directly on top of the wet mixture. This step is so important! It breaks up any clumps in the flour and, most importantly, it evenly distributes the baking powder and salt. There is nothing worse than getting a bitter bite of baking powder! This step prevents that.

Step 4: Combine! (The “Don’t Over-mix” Rule)

Switch from your whisk to a spatula. Now, gently fold and mix the dry ingredients into the wet. You want to mix only until you no longer see big streaks of dry flour.

This is the most important rule of cake baking: Do not over-mix! A few small lumps in the batter are perfectly fine. If you mix and mix until it’s perfectly smooth, you’ll overwork the gluten in the flour, and your cake will be tough, dense, and rubbery instead of light and fluffy.

Step 5: Fold in the Apples (The Chunky Goodness)

Now it’s time for your apples. Take your 2½ apples, core them, and chop them into small pieces, about ½-inch dice. The recipe says you can keep the peel on, and I 100% agree! It saves you time, reduces waste, and adds a nice bit of color and fiber.

Add all of these chopped apples to your batter. Use your spatula to gently fold them in until they are just distributed. Your batter will be very thick and chunky now. This is correct!

Step 6: The Beautiful Apple Topping

Pour your thick batter into your prepared cake pan and spread it out evenly with your spatula.

Now, take your remaining 1½ apples. Core them and slice them thinly. You can leave the peel on for these, too—it looks beautiful as it bakes.

Arrange these thin apple slices on top of the batter. The prettiest way is to start in a circular pattern around the outside edge, overlapping the slices slightly, just like petals on a flower. Work your way in, ring by ring, until you’ve covered the whole top.

Step 7: The Cinnamon-Sugar Sparkle

In a small bowl, mix your remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with the 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Sprinkle this mixture evenly all over the top of the apple slices. Don’t be shy! This is what will create that amazing, sparkly, crunchy crust.

Step 8: Bake to Golden Perfection

Place your cake on the center rack of your preheated 360°F (180°C) oven. Set your timer for 55 minutes.

After 55 minutes, it’s time to check. The top should be a deep golden brown, and your whole house should smell like heaven. To check if it’s done, insert a skewer or a toothpick into the very center of the cake, trying to avoid a big apple chunk.

• If it comes out with wet, goopy batter, it needs more time. Put it back in for 5-minute increments.
• If it comes out “mostly dry” with just a few moist crumbs, it is perfect. Take it out!

Step 9: The Agonizing Wait (Cooling is Crucial)

This is the hardest part. You must let the cake cool. Take it out of the oven and let it cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes. This lets it set up.

After 15 minutes, you can run a knife around the edge and then carefully flip it out onto the wire rack. (I like to place a rack on top, flip the whole thing, lift off the pan, peel off the parchment, and then place another rack on the bottom and flip it back so it’s right-side up).

Let it cool on the rack for at least 1 more hour before slicing. The cake is still setting up, and cutting it while it’s hot will cause it to fall apart. Patience will be rewarded!

Pro-Tips for a Flawless Cake Every Time

You’ve got the basics. Now here are a few extra tips to make you a true Vegan Apple Cake master.

How to Get That Perfect “Bakery Style” Top

The secret to that professional look is twofold. First, take your time arranging the apple slices. Overlapping them in a tight, concentric pattern makes a huge difference. Second, be generous with the cinnamon-sugar. It’s not just for flavor; it’s what gives the cake that beautiful, craggy, sparkling crust.

The “Don’t Over-mix” Warning, Explained

I’ve said it twice, so you know it’s important. But why? When you mix flour with a liquid (like your almond milk), two proteins in the flour link up to form gluten.

A little gluten is good! It gives your cake structure and holds it together. But when you mix and mix, you create more and more gluten strands. This is great for bread, as it makes it chewy. For a cake? It’s a disaster. It makes the cake tough, dense, and rubbery. So, be gentle! As soon as the flour disappears, stop mixing.

Fun Variations and Customizations

This cake is a perfect blank canvas. Here are a few easy ways to make it your own.

Go Nuts!

Apples and nuts are a classic combination. Fold in ½ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans into the batter along with your chopped apples. They will add a wonderful, toasty crunch and nutty flavor.

Dried Fruit Add-ins

Want even more fruity flavor? Fold in ½ cup of raisins or dried cranberries with the apples. The cranberries, in particular, will add a nice tartness that pairs beautifully with the sweet apples.

Add a Simple Vegan Glaze

If you want to make the cake extra decadent (and you’re not worried about the extra sugar), you can add a simple glaze. Wait until the cake is completely cool.

• Simple Vanilla Glaze: In a small bowl, whisk 1 cup of powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons of almond milk and ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract. If it’s too thick, add more milk, one drop at a time. Drizzle it all over the top of the cooled cake.

How to Serve and Store Your Masterpiece

You’ve baked a beautiful cake. Now what’s the best way to enjoy it?

Serving Suggestions

Honestly, a slice of this cake is perfect all by itself. But if you want to take it to the next level, here are some ideas:

• Serve it warm. A 15-second trip to the microwave makes it taste freshly baked.
• Add a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream. The contrast of the warm, spicy cake and the cold, creamy ice cream is unbeatable.
• Drizzle with vegan caramel sauce. Apples and caramel? A match made in heaven.
• A dollop of coconut whipped cream. A light and fluffy topping.

Storing at Room Temperature

Because this cake is so moist, it stores very well. Once it’s completely cool, you can store it in an airtight container or just cover the cake pan tightly with plastic wrap or foil. It will stay fresh and moist on your counter for 3 to 4 days.

Can You Freeze This Vegan Apple Cake?

Yes! This cake freezes beautifully.

1. Slice: Let the cake cool completely, then slice it into individual pieces.
2. Wrap: Wrap each slice tightly in plastic wrap, then in a layer of aluminum foil. This prevents freezer burn.
3. Freeze: Place the wrapped slices in a freezer bag or container. They will keep for up to 3 months.
4. Thaw: When you want a treat, just pull out a slice and let it thaw on the counter for about an hour. You can even pop it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to warm it up.

Vegan Apple Cake FAQs (Your Questions Answered)

1. Can I make this cake gluten-free? Yes, this recipe works very well with a high-quality “1-to-1” or “measure-for-measure” gluten-free all-purpose flour blend (one that already contains xanthan gum). Just swap it 1:1 for the all-purpose flour.

2. Can I use less sugar? You can, but sugar does more than just add sweetness; it also adds moisture and helps with the tender texture. You could probably reduce the ¾ cup of sugar in the batter to ⅔ or even ½ cup, but I wouldn’t go any lower than that, or you’ll have a drier, heavier cake.

3. Do I have to peel the apples? Nope! The recipe encourages you to leave the peel on, and so do I. It saves time, adds fiber and color, and you won’t even notice it in the final cake.

4. My cake seems dense and sank in the middle. What went wrong? This can be caused by a few things:

• Over-mixing: You mixed the batter too much after adding the flour.
• Under-baking: You pulled it from the oven too early, before the center was fully cooked and set.
• Old Baking Powder: Your baking powder might be expired and lost its lifting power.
• Opening the Oven: Opening the oven door too early or too often can cause a sudden drop in temperature, making the cake collapse.

5. Can I use a different size pan? Yes. This recipe will also work in a 10-inch loaf pan. The baking time will likely be a bit longer, so start checking it at 60 minutes. You could also bake it in a 9×13-inch pan, but the cake will be much thinner, and you’ll need to reduce the baking time significantly (start checking around 30-35 minutes).

6. Can I add other spices? Absolutely! Feel free to add ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg or cardamom to your dry ingredients for an even warmer, spicier flavor.

Your New Favorite Autumn Tradition

This Vegan Apple Cake is more than just a recipe; it’s a promise of comfort. It’s the proof that you don’t need dairy or eggs to create something truly special, moist, and delicious. It’s a cake that will fill your home with the best smells imaginable and will make everyone who tries it ask for a second slice.

So what are you waiting for? This weekend, head to the farmer’s market, pick out your favorite apples, and give yourself the gift of baking.

You’ve got this. When you make it, I’d love for you to come back and leave a comment. Did you add walnuts? Did you try it with a glaze? Let me know!

Happy baking!