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.
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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.
Hello!
I have just put this cake in the oven but the consistency of the batter was thick. It was not pourable. Can you please help me understand what the consistency should look like? Looking forward to your reply 🙂
The consistency is medium thick consistency. Sometimes due to the quality of flour, the amount of water required will be less or more. So in this case for any cake recipe made with whole wheat flour, you can always add more of the liquids like water or milk. I hope this helps.
I just made this cake today. I replaced the oil with 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce and 1tsp oil. Replaced sugar with 1/2 cup baking stevia.
It came out great. I would def make this recipe again.
Thanks for letting me know about the variations you made and good to know the recipe turned great.