Apple cake is a light, soft, spongy cake recipe perfect for both vegans and vegetarians. Made with whole wheat flour, this eggless apple cake recipe is baked to sweet, soft perfection in one pan and under an hour.
Table of Contents
Why This Recipe Works
This tasty, moist apple cake is the perfect quick and easy baking recipe. Made with whole wheat flour, raw sugar, ground spices, and a sweet apple puree, eggless apple cake is a dessert everyone can enjoy and feel good about.
Definitely healthier than your usual cakes, this eggless Cake Recipe is actually very light and a bit low in fat with mild apple flavors. I did not include butter and cooked with very little oil.
You can even make the recipe a bit more nutritious by experimenting with less oil and using multi grain flours or nut flours.
Perfect as a midday snack, this eggless apple cake recipe is originally adapted from my Applesauce Cake, which is another simple recipe where you just need to mix the ingredients with a spatula or spoon.
The only prep part of either of these recipes is making the apple puree, but after that, the baking is a breeze!
How to Make Apple Cake
Add Dry Ingredients
1. First, combine your flour, salt and seasonings in a sieve. Make sure you don’t miss any of these key ingredients:
- Whole wheat flour (1.5 cups or 180 grams)
- Salt, just a pinch
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg or nutmeg powder
- Optional additions: ½ teaspoon ground allspice and/or ¼ teaspoon ginger powder (ground ginger)
2. Next, add both ½ teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon baking powder to the dry ingredient mixture. Additionally, it’s important to make sure that your leavening ingredients are fresh and active.
3. Then sift the dry ingredients twice and set aside.
Prepare to Bake
4. Now grease a round 7.5 or 8-inch pan with a neutral flavored oil. Alternatively, you can also line the pan with parchment. At this point, you should preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes.
Make Apple Puree
5. Next place 2 cups of chopped apples (rinsed, cored and peeled) and ¾ cup raw sugar in a blender cup or container.
6. Blend the apple and sugar mixture to a smooth and fine puree. There should be no chunks of apples!
You will see that the color of puree will darken, but there is nothing to worry.
Transfer Apple Puree
7. When blended smooth, use a spatula to pour the apple puree into a mixing bowl.
8. Now add ¼ cup oil and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to the apple puree. I used sunflower oil, however, you can use any neutral flavored oil if needed.
NOTE: For a vegetarian option, use ¼ cup softened butter instead.
Add Liquids
9. Now pour ½ cup of water (at room temperature) or any nut milk (almond, cashew or lite coconut milk).
10. Add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice or white vinegar.
Whisk Puree Mixture
11. Then with a wired whisk, stir this mixture briskly for 2 to 3 minutes. You want to make sure that all of the ingredients are evenly mixed.
Combine Wet and Dry Ingredients
12. Now add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
13. Gently mix or fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. When mixing the batter together, you want to avoid over working the batter.
Use light pressure and be patient because if you over-mix, your cake may not turn out as soft and fluffy. The batter has a medium flowing consistency.
NOTE: Break the large lumps of flour by tapping on them with the wired whisk. Tiny lumps are fine.
Pour Batter into Pan
14. Next, pour the batter in the prepared pan. Tap the pan lightly on your counter table to let the air bubbles pass — there is no need to spread the batter on top with a spatula, as the batter will spread out on its own.
Bake your Apple Cake
15. Finally, it is time to bake at 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) for about fifty minutes to one hour. Yes, this cake DOES take a long time to bake — you may even need to add 10-15 minutes onto the cook time depending on your oven.
NOTE: Remember that oven temperatures vary, so check if the cake is done or not with a toothpick when the top looks golden.
16. Allow the apple cake to bake, then check its doneness with a wooden skewer. You will know your cake is done when the skewer comes out clean with no sticky batter on it.
17. When your eggless apple cake is done, place the baking pan on a wired tray and allow to cool at room temperature.
18. After cooling, gently use a butter knife to remove the vegan apple cake from the pan.
19. Finally, it is time to serve and enjoy your apple cake! Serve at room temperature with tea or coffee.
Storage and Leftovers
Tightly wrap the cake in a cling film or keep the cake in an airtight container and refrigerate. Your leftover apple cake can be refrigerated for a week and frozen for a month.
Expert Tips
Ingredient Swaps
- Make it healthy. To make this cake even a little more healthy, you can use wholemeal flour and less oil.
- Sub your sugar. I used raw sugar in this vegan apple cake recipe, but you can also substitute white sugar, coconut sugar, palm sugar. Alternatively, you can use jaggery or maple syrup in place of sugar, as well.
- Apple puree. If you have ready to use homemade apple puree, add ¾ cup of it. You could also replace apple puree with ¾ cup of apple sauce. Depending on whether your apple sauce is sweetened or not, you can alter the proportions of sugar as desired.
- Flour. If you are not a fan of whole wheat flour, then sub it with all-purpose flour or pastry flour. Add about ¼ to ⅓ cup of water if using these flours.
Baking Notes
- Keep an eye on the cake. If the top is becoming too brown and the cake is not baked, then cover with a parchment paper and continue to bake.
- Watch the sweetness. Because you aren’t using sour or tangy apples, there’s a lot of natural sweetness in this cake. You can always balance out that sweetness level by reducing your added sugar to ½ cup.
- Check the batter. Before baking, the apple cake batter should have a medium flowing-consistency — not thick, but not liquid. The batter should feel light and have volume.
- Time for baking. Each oven works differently. This vegan apple cake takes more time to bake than your usual cakes. So consider a time period of 45 minutes to 1 hour or more if needed while baking. When you see the top has become golden, check with a wooden skewer. If you see sticky batter on the skewer, then continue to bake further.
FAQs
I use atta or the whole wheat flour made with durum hard wheat. This is the same flour that we use to make rotis or parathas. I use organic whole wheat chakki ground atta which is basically stone ground flour. The recipe works well with any kind of whole meal flour. So you could use the whole wheat flour that is available in the US, Europe or the one you get in your country.
I have added raw sugar in the eggless apple cake, but it can be made with coconut sugar, palm sugar or palm jaggery or maple syrup. The cake would also taste good with brown sugar or powdered sugar.
It’s important to use sweet apples for this recipe, NOT sour or tangy apples. As a general rule of thumb, the redder the apple, the sweeter it is. Personally, I’m a fan of fuji, gala, and honeycrips apples.
A sieve is like a tiny strainer that helps to prevent clumps from getting into your dry ingredient mixture. When you sieve, you also sift, and sifting actually helps bring air into the flour, which makes your batter easier to mix and your vegan apple cake super fluffy.
More Cake Recipes to Try!
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Apple Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour – 180 grams
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder (ground cinnamon)
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ginger powder (ground ginger)
- ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg or ground nutmeg
For Apple Puree
- 2 cups chopped apples – 300 grams or 2 medium -sized
- ¾ cup raw sugar – 150 grams
Other Ingredients
- ½ cup water or any nut milk – at room temperature
- ¼ cup oil – use oil which has a neutral taste and flavor
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice or white vinegar
Instructions
Sifting dry ingredients
- First, combine the flour, salt, ground spices, baking soda and baking powder in a sieve.
- Sift the dry ingredients twice and set aside.
- Brush or grease a round 7.5 to 8-inch pan with a neutral flavored oil. You can also line the pan with parchment. Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes.
Making apple puree
- Take the chopped apples (rinsed, cored and peeled) and raw sugar in a blender jar or container.
- Blend to a smooth purée without any chunks.
- Use a spatula to pour the apple puree into a mixing bowl.
Making liquid mixture
- Add oil, water, vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.
- With a wired whisk, stir this mixture briskly for 2 to 3 minutes so that the oil is incorporated evenly in it.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients to this wet ingredients liquid mixture.
Mixing dry ingredients
- Gently mix the dry ingredients in the wet ingredients with light pressure from your hands. Don't over work the batter. It should feel light and have volume.
- The batter has a medium flowing consistency.
- Break large lumps of flour if any by tapping on them with wired whisk. Tiny lumps are fine in the batter.
- Pour the batter in the prepared pan.
Baking apple cake
- Bake at 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) in a preheated oven for about 50 minutes to 1 hour.
- Remember that oven temperatures vary, so check if the cake is done or not with a toothpick when the top looks golden.
- Check the doneness with a wooden skewer. The skewer should come out clean with no sticky batter on it.
- Place the baking pan on a wired tray and cool the apple cake at room temperature.
- After cooling, gently use a butter knife to remove the cake from the pan.
- Slice and enjoy the apple cake. Serve the cake slices at room temperature with tea or coffee.
Storage and Leftovers
- Tightly wrap the cake in a cling film or keep the cake in an airtight container and refrigerate. Your leftover apple cake can be refrigerated for a week and frozen for a month.
Notes
- Baking: If the top crust becomes too brown and the cake is under baked, then cover with a parchment paper and continue to bake.
- Time for baking: Each oven works differently. This cake takes more time to bake than your usual cakes. So consider a time period of 45 minutes to 1 hour or more if needed while baking. When you see the top has become golden, check with a wooden skewer. If you see sticky batter on the skewer, then continue to bake further.
- Healthy variations: To make this cake even a little more healthy, you can experiment with multigrain flours, nut flours and less oil.
- Sugar substitute: I have used raw sugar, but you can substitute white sugar, coconut sugar, palm sugar. Alternatively, use jaggery or maple syrup in place of sugar, as well.
- Other flours: If you are not a fan of whole wheat flour, then replace it with all-purpose flour or pastry flour. Add about ¼ to ⅓ cup of water if using these flours.
- Whole wheat flour: I have used atta or the whole wheat flour made with durum hard wheat which we use to make roti or paratha. The recipe works well with any kind of whole wheat flour. So you could use the whole wheat flour that is available in the US, Europe or the one you get in your country.
- Apple puree: If using homemade apple puree, you can add ¾ cup of it or replace with ¾ cup of apple sauce. Depending on whether your apple sauce is sweetened or not, you can alter the proportions of sugar as desired.
- Sweetness: Because you aren’t using sour or tangy apples, there’s a lot of natural sweetness in this cake. You can always balance out that sweetness level by reducing your added sugar to ½ cup.
- Batter consistency: Before baking, the apple cake batter should have a medium flowing-consistency — not thick, but not liquid. The batter should feel light and have volume.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This apple cake recipe from the blog archives (July 2013) has been republished and updated on 2 February 2021 with a better recipe and newer photos.
Hi
I ve been reading ur recipes since long time. Tried one or two. Fantastic ones. N ur way of explaining is too good. Just had a question regarding cakes. Instead of oil can we use ghee, n if yes wat shld b the quantity of ghee, same as oil?
you can use ghee. but ghee will give its distinct flavor to the bakes. for any recipe calling ghee,i would suggest to whip it well first as some aeration happens when whipping and helps in making the cake lighter. just reduce the amount by 1/4th. eg if a recipe calls for 1/2 cup oil then add 1/2 cup ghee.
Hi, love your blog, have tried a lot of your recipes but presently am trying my hand at baking and the cookies turn to be good but cakes and bread r a disaster. Tried following the apple cake reciepe to the T but my cake is falling to pieces and looks all soggy from the inside. The top of the cake is over cooked and at the bottom it always sticks to the pan. Even my dough don’t turn out like the one in your picture. Please tell me where I am going wrong.
thanks shipra. let me know which oven you use & how long you preheat the oven?
Very easy to bake banana n apple cake receipe
thanks sanjay
Hi Dassana, this is indeed a very simple and good recipe. Tried this today and it turned out absolutely delicious. Am wondering if I could also use multigrain instead of only wheat flour. any thoughts?
thanks abhishek. yes you can use multi grain flour. there will be a slight change in the texture and taste. but it will be healthy.
Hi Dassana…I wanna try this recipe…What are the variations in the recipe if I use All Purpose Flour completely instead of 1:1 ? [Just for the reason that I have too much of it at home n wanna finish it..else wud nvr prefer tht]
Also, i wanna try some easy cake recipe with eggs…Do you have any recipe or any good portal like yours that i can visit to ?
no variations. just follow the same recipe. i don’t know any portal which has good recipes for cakes made with eggs.
Hi Dassana!
Im so glad i found this website. Instead of water can i use fresh apple juice? That way i wont have to use too much sugar.
yes you can add apple juice. thats an excellent substitution for water.
hi, the cake came out very nice, i wanted to know about any cake making with ragi flour, i heard this from my friends and very curious to know. If i try making cake it would be a flop every time but with proper recipe details i can make it.
thanks artee. i have never tried ragi cake. when i try the recipe and if it comes out good, i shall post the recipe too.
I just made this cake and it’s delightful! I used coconut sugar and almond flour in place of all purpose, just because I didn’t have it. I also used Honey Crisp apples, yum! Next time I may use unsalted peanut butter in place of safflower oil. Just because apples and peanut butter make a great team! Plus, no oil. Great recipe, thank you!
thanks sarah. you have made it so healthy. apples and peanut butter are a yum combo. agree 🙂
hlo..ur recipe is really nice…
I wanted to ask which oil shuld v use?
refined oil is gud??
n somewhere I read dat condensed milk is important for eggless cake…is it so??
thanks. you can use refined oil. i use rice bran oil or sunflower oil or safflower oil. condensed milk can be added to make cakes. but it is not an essential ingredient. cakes can be made without condensed milk also.
Hi dassana
Can I make this cake in pressure cooker?
kanchan, yes you can try in pressure cooker.
Hi Dassana,
I tried this recipe today for my kids’ 2nd bday. But it didnt raise properly. I forgot to switch the knob from rotisserie mode to baking mode. I realised after 15 minutes and later changed to the baking mode. Is it because of that ? And the cake had strong wheat flavour.
But my kids loved it 🙂 I really like your website and going to try some more.. Do you have any spicy muffin recipes ?
i guess its because of that. the wheat flavor would depend on the quality of wheat flour. next time you can add a tbsp of cocoa powder which will help in reducing the wheat flavor. not yet any spicy muffin recipes. but will try to add. thanks deepa.
Thanks Dassana!! I am new to baking. One question
Can I substitute ENO salt to baking soda ?
welcome deepa. i don’t know as i have never tried eno salt in cakes.
love the receipe.. cake was baked n brown in 45 min.. was a delight
thanks astha for giving positive feedback on apple cake.
Can I use Brown sugar
santosh, yes you can.
Loved the recipe. The cake was unbaked even after 55 minutes. I managed to save it to some extent. It was very tasty, I may need to keep it for over an hour next time.
thanks t. an extra baking would have helped. an hour or a few minutes over an hour will help.
Hi Dassana,
Thanks to ur blog and simple way of describing how to cook I have been able to cook fabulous food at home.i am lazy when it comes to cooking but the way u write simply inspires us to cook.
Just a question can I use green apples for baking this cake.
purvi, with green apple you will not get good taste. use red apple. unfortunately your comments were going in spam folder and we don’t have any control over it. so today checked your comment while clearing spam comment folder.