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This eggless and vegan Apple Cinnamon Cake is chock full of in-season apples and lots of fall spices. It’s topped with a rich streusel crumble topping, thinly sliced apples, and a dusting of powdered sugar. This easy cake is completely vegan thanks to the applesauce which replaces the eggs!
📝 Why You’ll Love This Vegan Apple Cake:
- Taste: It’s rich, with a caramel flavor thanks to the brown sugar, and it’s packed with tons of apple flavor.
- Texture: It has a moist and fluffy cake crumb with lots of tender apples and crunchy pecans.
- Difficulty: This cake is super easy, can be made in one bowl, and is the perfect recipe for fall baking.
- Why We Love This Cake: Every year around Fall and apple season, I love to start baking with lots of fresh in-season fruit! This cake hits the spot every year- we can’t get enough of it. (If you’re looking for more ways to use up a bunch of apples or pears, you could also make my cozy, silky smooth Apple Curd or my Ginger Walnut Pear Crumble!)
Why This Recipe Works
No eggs are necessary for this apple cake! Applesauce serves as a fantastic egg replacer in this recipe, plus it adds to the apple flavor.
Since eggs also help leaven cakes, this recipe calls for both baking soda and powder to help the cake rise.
This recipe also calls for oil which means it’s also dairy-free and vegan. Of course, you could substitute in melted vegan butter if you’d like!
Ingredients:
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
This recipe packs as much apple flavor into the cake as possible. It uses fresh diced apples, applesauce, and apple cider to make sure the apple flavor really comes through!
You’ll need to gather the following ingredients to make this cake:
- Oil: Like vegetable oil, canola oil, coconut oil or even melted vegan butter.
- Brown Sugar: This adds a caramel flavor. You could also use coconut sugar.
- Granulated Sugar: Organic cane sugar or white sugar helps add sweetness without adding more caramel flavor.
- Applesauce: Use unsweetened applesauce for extra apple flavor and to replace eggs.
- Apple Cider: This helps adds some necessary liquid (use apple cider, not apple cider vinegar!). Or you can substitute non-dairy milk like soy milk, oat milk or almond milk. I’ve made this cake using both apple cider and oat milk and both turned out delicious.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: Use a high quality vanilla extract or paste for extra flavor.
- Cinnamon & Cardamom: These spices adds lots of cozy fall flavor.
- Baking Soda + Powder: These are the leavening agents for the cake.
- Apple Purpose Flour: I used King Arthur’s All Purpose Flour. You’ll want to use a digital scale or the spoon and level method to measure the flour.
- Apples: Of course we need apples for apple cake! You can use Honeycrisp apples, granny smith apples or another variety of choice.
- Pecans: You could also substitute walnuts.
Equipment and Tools
Below are some suggested tools to make this apple cake:
- Digital Kitchen Scale: to measure all the ingredients accurately
- Large Bowl
- 9″ Cake Pan or 9″ Springform Pan
- Parchment Paper
Step-By-Step Instructions
🎥 Video Tutorial is Above the Recipe Card Down Below!
how to make the vegan apple cinnamon cake
The prep time for this cake is super fast. It takes about 10 minutes to mix together. Like most cakes, the longest part is just waiting for it to bake! Because this cake has apples inside of it, it takes a bit longer to bake, about 60 minutes. Below are the main steps for making this eggless apple cinnamon cake:
STEP 1: Beat the oil and sugar until combined. Add the applesauce, vanilla, and apple cider (or dairy free milk). Mix to combine.
STEP 2: Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt together with a fine sieve onto the wet ingredients.
STEP 3: Mix the wet and dry together until the mixture is smooth.
STEP 4: Fold in the chopped apple pieces and pecans. Pour the batter into the cake pan. Top with the thinly sliced apples (optional) and sprinkle on the crumble topping.
STEP 5: Bake for 55-65 minutes on the middle rack. A knife inserted into the batter should remove cleanly with only a few crumbs.
STEP 6: Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
The Cake Topping
I think what makes this cake go from great to fantastic is the crumble topping. This streusel topping adds a bit of decadence to the cake, as well as some more cinnamon flavor. To make the crumble topping, you really only need 4 ingredients: vegan butter, flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
When you mix those ingredients together with a fork, they should form big crumbs. Then, once you have the cake batter all mixed up and in the cake pan, you can sprinkle the crumbles on the top right before baking. And then you have a delicious vegan apple crumb cake!
I also like to top the cake with some sliced apples. The trick here is to make sure that these are very thin slices.
Note: If the slices are too thick, they’ll weigh the cake batter down and prevent it from rising properly.
Serving & Storage
Once the cake has cooled, it’s ready to slice and serve! You can dust it with a bit of powdered sugar or serve it with coconut whipped cream on top.
It would also be delicious with some vanilla ice cream or even a drizzle of coconut caramel sauce.
To store the cake, wrap it tightly with plastic or place in an airtight container. It will stay fresh at room temperature for 2-3 days. If you’d like to store it longer, you can freeze the slices for up to 2-3 months.
Helpful Tips For Amazing Vegan Apple Cake
- Sift the Dry Ingredients: To help avoid lumps, sift the dry ingredients on top of the mixed wet ingredients.
- Fold in Apples and Pecans: Mix the apples and pecans in until just combined.
- Grease the Cake Tin: For easy removal, grease the tin and place parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan.
these help create the best flavor & texture!
FAQ
For this recipe, I like to use Granny Smith since the texture holds up after baking and they have a tart flavor that helps balance the sweetness of the filling. I also prefer Honeycrisp apples since they have a very crunchy, crispy texture that helps texture and depth to the filling. You could also try Braeburn, Golden Delicious, or McIntosh apples!
This post has lots of info on the best apples for baking.
Yes, you absolutely can. The texture once baked will be softer and the flavor won’t be as pronounced, but I’m definitely a fan of using ingredients you have on hand!
This recipe calls for about 1 1/2 cups of chopped apples. This is about 4-5 medium-sized apples plus maybe 1 more if you want to top the cake with slices (so 6 total). But of course, the number will depend on how large the apples are. If you have a scale, this is about 180 grams of chopped apples.
More Apple Recipes
- Hasselback Apples with Pecan Crumble
- Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes
- Healthy Apple Oatmeal Cake
- Gingerbread Apple Cake
More Vegan Cake Recipes
- Vegan Biscoff Cake
- Strawberry Crunch Cake
- Vegan Strawberry Shortcake
- Italian Pear Almond Cake
- Spiced Orange Bundt Cake
- Eggless Baked Cheesecake with Strawberries
- Halloween Ghost Cupcakes
Did you make This Vegan and eggless apple cake Recipe?
⭐️ I’d love to know! Leave a star rating and comment below! ⭐️
Eggless Apple Cinnamon Cake (Vegan)
Ingredients
Wet:
- ½ cup vegetable oil, 110g or melted vegan butter
- ½ cup white granulated sugar, 100g
- ½ cup loosely packed light brown sugar, 100g
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce, 90g
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp apple cider, or substitute dairy-free milk
Dry:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 180g spooned into a measuring cup and leveled off
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups peeled and chopped apples, 180g
- ½ cup chopped pecans, 60g
- Thinly sliced apples, for topping (optional)
- Powdered sugar, for dusting
Optional Crumble Topping:
- 3 tbsp softened vegan butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Grease a 9” round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
To Make the Crumble:
- To make the crumble topping, mix all of the crumble ingredients together in a small bowl. The mixture should form large crumbs.3 tbsp softened vegan butter, ¼ cup all-purpose flour, ¼ cup light brown sugar, 1 tsp ground cinnamon
To Make the Cake:
- In a medium-sized bowl, beat the oil and sugar until combined. Add the applesauce, vanilla, and apple cider. Mix to combine.½ cup vegetable oil, ½ cup white granulated sugar, ½ cup loosely packed light brown sugar, ½ cup unsweetened applesauce, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, 2 tbsp apple cider
- Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt together with a fine sieve onto the wet ingredients.1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp ground cardamom, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp salt
- Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until the mixture is smooth.
- Fold in the apples and pecans.1 ½ cups peeled and chopped apples, ½ cup chopped pecans
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Top with the thinly sliced apples (optional) and sprinkle on the crumble topping.Thinly sliced apples
- Bake for 55-65 minutes at 350F on the middle rack. A knife inserted into the batter should remove cleanly with only a few crumbs. Start checking doneness around 45 minutes. Baking time will vary based on how much moisture your apples have.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack. Let cool completely before slicing and dusting with powdered sugar.Powdered sugar
Video
Did You Make This?
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Categories:
Baked Goods, Comfort Food, Desserts, Fall, Recipes, Seasonal, Thanksgiving, Vegan Cakes,
This looks lovely, but can it be baked in an air fryer instead of a conventional oven?
Hi Brenda,
I haven’t tried baking it in an air fryer, so I don’t have bake times or temperatures to suggest.
Hi! I have a batch of this in the oven right now and I’m so excited! Though, I just remember that I forgot the applesauce. Do you think that will be an issue?
I had a though to make this with pears. Do you think it would turn out? Would you suggest a different spice blend, in that case?
Hi Tamra, the applesauce serves as the egg replacer in this recipe. It also helps keep the cake moist and from crumbling. I’d love to hear how yours turned out! I do I have a separate vegan Pear Almond Cake if you’d like to check that one out. You can find it here: https://tyberrymuch.com/vegan-italian-pear-almond-cake/
The cake was amazing even without the applesauce. The edges were crisp, the center moist but not gooey. My husband and I ate half of this in one night. This first bake was a test run, and now I can make it again for an office party (maybe I’ll even add the applesauce!). The pear recipe looks amazing, I will have to try it. Thank you!
My husband couldn’t get enough. I forgot the applesauce, but the cake turned out beautifully. Crisp on the edges, cake-like in the middle. I plan to make another for our holiday party.
Hello! Thank you for sharing this recipe. Should the apple sauce be sugar free? Thanks!
Hi there! Yes, the applesauce should be unsweetened.
Just made this yummy cake today it is so delicious! Truly a comfort food. Didn’t have pecans, unfortunately, but we had walnuts and they worked well too! Thank you for the recipe. Loved it!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
It’s super easy and tasty
Great cake. Moist and delicious. I use half the sugar and oil and it comes out plenty sweet and moist.
I don’t bake much bit this was so simple and tastes delicious. I added more cardamom which was good too