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This eggless 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
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 caramelized stovetop apples, this silky smooth Apple Curd or my Ginger Walnut Pear Crumble!)
Emily’s Recipe Notes:
- Flavor: 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 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 instead of butter 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!
Oil
Oil adds moisture and richness to the cake. You can use a neutral one like vegetable oil, canola oil, refined coconut oil. Melted vegan butter can also be used.
Sugars
This recipe uses a combo of brown sugar and granulated sugar. Brown sugar adds a caramel flavor. You could also use coconut 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 Or Oat Milk
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.
Spices & Seasonings
I love using a high quality vanilla extract or paste for extra flavor. This cake is also made with a blend of ground cinnamon and cardamom. These spices add lots of cozy fall flavor.
Baking Soda and Baking Powder
These are the leavening agents for the cake. Baking soda reacts with acidic ingredients like the apple cider and the brown sugar to create lift and rise.
All 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.
Equipment and Tools
- Digital Kitchen Scale: to measure all the ingredients accurately
- Large Bowl
- 9″ Cake Pan or 9″ Springform Pan
- Parchment Paper
how to make vegan apple cinnamon cake
🎥 Video Tutorial is Above the Recipe Card Down Below!
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.
Beat the oil and sugar until combined. Add the applesauce, vanilla, and apple cider (or dairy free milk). Mix to combine.
Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt together with a fine sieve onto the wet ingredients.
Mix the wet and dry together until the mixture is smooth. Fold in the chopped apple pieces and pecans.
Mix to form a thick batter.
Pour the batter into the cake pan. Even out the top with a spatula.
Top with the thinly sliced apples (optional) and sprinkle on the crumble topping. Bake for 55-65 minutes on the middle 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.
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.
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. 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 small apples plus maybe 1 more if you want to top the cake with slices. 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 Vegan Apple Recipes
Eggless Apple Cinnamon Cake (Vegan)
Rate this RecipeIngredients
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 fine salt
- 1 ½ cups peeled and chopped apples, 180g – see notes
- ½ cup chopped pecans, 60g
Optional Topping:
- 3 tbsp softened vegan butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- thinly sliced apples, for topping (optional)
- powdered sugar, for dusting
Instructions
Prep & Make the Crumble
- Grease a 9” round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- 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 Vegan Apple 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. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until the mixture is smooth.1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp ground cardamom, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp fine salt
- Fold in the apples and pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.1 ½ cups peeled and chopped apples, ½ cup chopped pecans
- Top with the thinly sliced apples (optional) and sprinkle on the crumble topping.thinly sliced apples
- Bake for 55-65 minutes at 350°F 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
Recipe notes
Did You Make This?
Leave a star rating and a comment below to let others know how it turned out for you!
Categories:
Baked Goods, Fall Recipes, Seasonal, Thanksgiving, Vegan Cakes, Vegan Comfort Food, Vegan Dessert Recipes, Vegan Recipes,
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
This is a seriously good cake and vegan too. It’s simple to make and tastes delicious. Perfect for those who don’t eat eggs. The one I made was eaten straight away so I really wanted to make another one just to have a second portion.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Do you think this recipe would work with a gluten free flour mix? (Nothing containing nuts)
Hi Donna, I haven’t tested this exact recipe with GF flour but I’ve had success with King Arthur’s 1:1 GF All Purpose Flour in other baking recipes in the past. It may turn out a bit more moist or slightly grainy. If you give it a go, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Amazing cake—absolutely delicious! I made this cake for my egg-free, nut-free sister so she could enjoy dessert too at our recent family dinner. Other than completely leaving out the nuts, I made no other adjustments to this lovely recipe. Everyone loved it, including guests without any allergy concerns, and as a bonus, it made the house smell divine while it was baking.