Light and fluffy vegan apple cake with a cinnamon sugar topping. Packed with fresh apple flavor and absolutely divine served warm with vegan whipped cream.
I am totally in love with this vegan apple cake. And so is Jaye, he hasn’t been able to stop eating it to tell you the truth.
I actually started out with the goal of making a vegan apple pie. But at the last minute switched gears and made an apple cake instead (and then I made a vegan apple crisp!).
And it is honestly so good, no one will miss apple pie when you present apple cake, I promise you.
And even though I have yet to make an apple pie (update: vegan apple pie is here!), I reckon this apple cake is heaps easier.
The hardest part of making this apple cake is peeling and chopping up a few apples. So basically, not hard at all.
It’s totally divine served warm and topped with some vegan whipped cream.
It has all those gorgeous fall flavors like cinnamon and nutmeg and it’s topped with a cinnamon sugar combination that creates the most delicious caramelized crust on top of this cake.
And if you love everything apple then check out our vegan apple muffins too.
How To Make Vegan Apple Cake
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
Add your dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg) to a mixing bowl and combine.
Make up some vegan buttermilk by mixing some lemon juice and soy milk together and letting it curdle.
Add the vegan buttermilk, oil, vanilla and apple cider vinegar to the dry ingredients and mix together. Then you add your chopped apples and mix them in.
Smooth down into a 9×13 dish.
Mix up cinnamon, sugar and softened vegan butter and sprinkle this on top. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve with vegan cream. Be very very happy!
Tips For Making The Perfect Vegan Apple Cake
Granny smith apples. They are wonderfully firm and have a great ratio between sweet and tart. They work great for this apple cake.
Vegan Buttermilk creates a wonderfully moist texture to this cake and is so easy to make by simply mixing lemon juice into soy milk and letting it curdle. Almond milk works too, but I prefer soy milk for buttermilk if you don’t have an issue with soy as it is thicker/richer so works extremely well.
Brown sugar goes beautifully with the fall flavors of this cake so is a much better fit than white sugar.
Bake at low heat. This cake bakes for 45 minutes at 325°F (160°C). Most cakes bake at 350°F so I definitely don’t want you to make the mistake of baking this cake at that temperature if you go on automatic pilot when you set the oven (happens to me all the time!).
Weigh your flour. Want to have perfect accuracy with your cakes? Weighing your flour will do that for you.
How to Serve Vegan Apple Cake
Serve warm topped with vegan whipped cream or vegan custard. Alternatively some vegan ice cream would be divine too.
Storing and Freezing
Keep leftover cake covered in the fridge where it will stay good for up to 5 days.
It’s also freezer friendly for up to 3 months.
More Delicious Vegan Cakes
- Vegan Pumpkin Cake
- Vegan Pineapple Upside Down Cake
- Vegan Coffee Cake
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Vegan Banana Cake
- Vegan Lemon Cake
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Apple Cake
Ingredients
For the Apple Cake:
- 2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour (312g)
- 1 ½ cups Light Brown Sugar (300g)
- 1 ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg
- 1 cup Vegan Buttermilk (240ml) 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice + Soy Milk up to the 1 cup line
- ⅓ cup Vegetable Oil (80ml) or Canola Oil
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Applesauce
- 1 ½ cups Granny Smith Apples (188g) Peeled and Chopped
For the Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (100g)
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp Vegan Butter Softened
For Serving:
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Spray a 9×13 dish with non-stick spray and set aside.
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the brown sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix together.
- Prepare your vegan buttermilk by adding 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice to a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 1 cup (240ml) line. Leave it for a minute to allow it to curdle.
- Add the vegan buttermilk, oil, vanilla, apple cider vinegar and applesauce to the mixing bowl and mix in properly. The batter will be thick.
- Add in the chopped apple pieces and fold in.
- Transfer to your prepared baking dish and smooth down.
- Prepare the cinnamon sugar topping by adding the sugar and cinnamon to a bowl and mixing together. Then add in softened vegan butter and mix it in until properly combined and the mixture is crumbly.
- Sprinkle over the top of the cake.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Serve warm with vegan whipped cream or vegan ice cream.
Video
Notes
- Granny Smith Apples. These are the best apples to use in this recipe, but you can also use whatever you have on hand.
- Storing. Keep leftover cake stored in the fridge (covered) where it will stay good for up to 5 days. It can be reheated in the microwave.
- Nutritional information is for cake only and does not include vegan whipped cream.
Mimi says
Came out perfect for the topping I used raw sugar instead of white and it is perfect
LG says
This cake was great. I made a couple minor revisions. I used an apple peach sauce instead of regular applesauce and used 3 tbsps instead of 1. I used turbinado sugar for the topping for better texture. I also baked for just 40 mins and it came out moist and was a hit!
Jim Gramprie says
Very yummy. I used oat milk and about 1/2 the sugar topping (don’t have much of a sweet tooth). Also, I put it into 2 cake pans. It rose about 2-3 inches. And, I used Honeycrisp apples.
Thank for my family’s smiles!!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for the great review Jim! 🙂
Cristina Rossi says
I have made this twice already and it’s fabulously delicious! If I want to use a round tin cake instead of the rectangular dish what would be the ideal size please. Thank you so much!!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Cristina, I would imagine two 8-inch cake pans would do great here. Otherwise if you’re looking to do a single layer probably a 10-inch. I wouldn’t swear by it though, that’s a guess, but I think that would work. 🙂
Cristina says
Wonderful thank you so much!! 🙂 xx
Prachi Joshi says
Hi, I tried this recipe and it was delicious, except that my cake wasn’t fluffy. Where do you think I could have done wrong, not enough oil or did I mix it too much? Would like to try again with the correction!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Prachi, it could be a couple of things, over-mixing can cause the gluten in the flour to activate too much which can make it more dense and chewy. So this is why you should only mix until it’s just combined and be careful not to overdo it with mixing. And then the other thing that can cause it is if you use a little too much flour accidentally, which is easy to happen if you don’t use a food scale and weigh it. The best method to measure flour if you’re not using a food scale is the spoon and level method. Hope this helps and you’ll have a super fluffy cake next time! 🙂
Sarah says
I’ve made it twice, I too exchanged the sugar with banana and a hand full of sultanas and it was perfect thank you I’ll be doing this cake forever !
Alison Andrews says
Fantastic! Thanks for sharing and the great review Sarah! 🙂
Helen P Vallone says
I have made this recipe several times and it is delicious. I cut back on the brown sugar (only used 1/2 cup) and added 1 ripe banana, and 1/2 cup raisins. For the topping, I only used 1/4 cup of sugar. The cake came out perfect. Thanks.
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing your adjustments and the wonderful rating! 🙂
Frances Murphy says
Could I serve this at room temperature? I would need to freeze it first and then defrost it and drop it off at an event the evening before it’s needed.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Frances, yes it’s delicious at room temperature! 🙂
Renee says
I wondered if you could make the cake and freeze it to serve a week later…
Alison Andrews says
Yes I think this would be fine. Let it cool completely before freezing and then thaw overnight in the fridge. Reheat in the oven at 350°F for 15-20 minutes until heated through and then serve.
Peppa says
Made it yesterday and I was very pleasantly surprised because tastes delicious. I cut the quantity of the sugar for 100 gr., and double the apples. Next time I’ll put less sugar (50 gr.) for the topping too, and think that it will be great again. Thank you.
Alison Andrews says
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing and the wonderful review. 🙂
Tammy says
This apple cake is so delicious. I typically don’t even like them, but had quite a few apples from a school project. I wanted to make an apple pie, but didn’t have pie crust, nor enough ingredients to make it. I’m so glad I made this because it’s so good! Thank you!!!!
Alison Andrews says
So glad to hear Tammy! Thanks for the awesome review. 🙂
David Naj says
Hi Alison,
This looks delicious! Just wondering if I can use spelt flour instead of all-purpose?
Thank you!
Alison Andrews says
Hi David, I haven’t tried it, but I think it might work!
Deborah Kenty Perry says
Excellent but I cut back the sugar by 1/2 cup and replaced the additional sugar and cinnamon with grated walnuts on the top of the cake. – also added walnuts to the cake itself… delicious!
Alison Andrews says
Sounds great! Thanks for sharing Deborah! 🙂
Deborah Kenty Perry says
Additional comment from my 5 year old grandson who said it’was The best cake he has ever had in his WHOLE LIFE????
Alison Andrews says
Yay!!! 🙂
Siobhan says
This was excellent and very easy to make! I used 2 9 inch round pans and baked for 33 minutes. Will definitely make again!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing and the great review! 🙂
Jo Parsons says
Hi there browsing at so many vegan gluten free apple breads , could I make this without the sugar ? Thanks
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jo, I’m not sure about leaving out the sugar altogether, you could try reducing it though.