This Eggless apple upside down cake is light, soft and taste good. It is one of those eggless cake recipes that I have developed on my own.
While developing recipes, especially baking ones, sometimes they are a success and sometimes they are failures. more so when one has to make a cake or bread or muffins which does not use eggs nor dairy products.
Generally when making the batter, I come to know if the cake will be a hit or miss. When I have that feeling that the cake is going to be a flop… Bingo.. The cake does become a flop when baked.
So when making this apple upside down cake, I knew it would not be a disaster recipe. What I did not know was that it will be a hit at home. The cake was so much liked, that I have got apples again to make this cake for easter.
In spite of not using eggs, the cake is light, soft and has a good crumb. Almost like cakes baked with eggs.
The secret to this light & soft texture in the cake is due to the addition of lemon juice and water. This cake is made up of ingredients that are easily available in your kitchen and you don’t have to buy anything special to make this cake. If you are thinking of making apple based recipes then there are few more options for you:
Since jaggery is easily available in India, I have added organic powdered jaggery to the cake batter. In the absence of jaggery the cake can also be sweetened with sugar or powdered sugar.
If you don’t have apples, then make the same cake with pears or pineapple and it would still be delicious. You can also use tinned pineapple slices. I have also posted the recipe for Pineapple upside down cake.
How to make apple upside down cake
1: Grease a 7 to 7.5 inches round cake pan or tin. You can even line the pan with butter paper or parchment paper. Rinse, peel, core and slice 2 medium sized. Do not make thin slices. layer the apple slices. You can have a single layer or double layer. Double is better. Also preheat your oven at 180 degrees celsius or 356 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
2: I doubled up the layer & added sprinkle cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, demerara sugar & some drops of lemon juice on the apple slices.
3: In a bowl, first take all the dry ingredients – whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, powdered jaggery, vanilla powder and cinnamon powder. Mix them well with a wired whisk. If using vanilla essence or extract then add it when adding lemon juice.
4: Add water, oil and mix well to form a batter without lumps. Do not overdo the mixing.
5: Add lemon juice and mix well again. You can see the tiny bubbles on the batter after adding lemon juice.
6: Pour the cake batter in the pan layered with apples. Shake the sides of the pan, so that the air bubbles are released.
7: Bake in a pre heated oven for 45 to 55 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit or for some more time if required. Do keep a check as oven temperatures vary. It may take less or more time in your oven.
8: When the cake was hot, I removed it from the pan and some apple slices got stuck at the pan. I was impatient. Just let the cake become warm and then unmould it carefully from the pan. You can even line the cake with parchment or butter paper so that its easy to unmould the cake without the apple slices sticking at the bottom of the pan.
Slice and Serve the apple upside down cake as an after meal dessert or with tea or coffee.
If you are looking for more Eggless cakes then do check:
Apple upside down cake
Ingredients
apple layer
- 2 medium sized apples - rinsed, peeled, cored and sliced
- 2 to 3 tablespoon organic demerara sugar or brown sugar or powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder
- few drops of lemon juice
cake batter - dry ingredients
- 1 cup organic whole wheat flour
- ½ cup organic all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup organic powdered jaggery or organic unrefined cane sugar or powdered sugar - adjust as per your sweet requirements
- 1 pinch salt
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
cake batter - wet ingredients
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 cup water
- ¼ cup sunflower oil or any neutral tasting vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon ground vanilla powder or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
preparation
- Grease or line a 7 to 7.5 inches round cake pan or tin. You can even line the pan with butter paper or parchment paper.
- Preheat your oven now at 180 degrees celsius or 356 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
- Rinse, peel, core and slice 2 medium sized apples.
lining cake pan with apples
- Layer the apple slices neatly on the base of the pan in single or double layer.
- Sprinkle cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder on the apple layer. Also sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice, so that the apples do not discolor. Sprinkling lemon juice is an optional step.
- Keep this pan aside.
making cake batter
- In a bowl, first take all the dry ingredients - whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, jaggery, vanilla powder and cinnamon powder. Mix them well with a wired whisk. If using vanilla essence or extract then add it when adding lemon juice.
- Add the water and oil and stir mix so that no lumps are formed. do not over do the mixing.
- Now add the lemon juice and stir well again.
- Pour the batter in the cake pan layered with the apple slices.
making apple upside down cake
- Bake at 180 degrees celsius or 356 degrees fahrenheit for 45 to 55 mins in a preheated oven.
- When warm or cooled, serve the eggless apple upside down cake with tea or coffee or as an after meal dessert.
Hi .. can we use green apples for this cake
not sure as green apples taste tart.
Thank you so much for replying.. I tried banana cake and it came very well.. today I tried coconut milk rice.. it tastes very yummy.. planning to try flattened beans poriyal tomorrow.. keep posting new videos
thanks chinmayee. sure do try and let me know.
Hi! Just made this yesterday and it turned out very well. Made a small variation- used 1/2 cup of coconut flour, 1/2 cup of wheat flour and 1/2 cup of maida . Wanted to try reducing the gluten content. Inspite of the change, it ws soft, moist and very tasty.
Thanks once again fr the great recipe.
thanks devi for sharing the variations you made to the apple cake. it will help readers too. i am glad that the recipe worked well with the changes.
welcome and happy baking.
how much time should i keep the cake in mircowave?
you can only bake the cake in the convection mode of the microwave oven. so the time taken will vary by 25 to 35 minutes. i cannot give the exact time as each oven is different. but the recipe may not work in the microwave mode.
Hi! How can we make the recipe in a non vegan way? Cause I want to use milk instead of oil.
Thanks.
for a non vegan recipe, i will have to test it. but instead of water you can use milk. oil will be needed in the recipe.
I’ve tried and loved many recipes from your site. This was the first one that was disappointing. I’m a pretty seasoned baker but I generally don’t make that many eggless recipes, so I was excited to try this out. Unfortunately, the taste of the atta is overwhelming and the whole thing tastes a little too much like a jaggery pancake rather than a typical cake.
ramya, when making eggless cakes and that too with atta, a few things have to be paid attention too. firstly do not over do the mixing or folding part. secondly the quality of atta makes some difference. some atta flours absorb more liquids and some do not. it also depends on whether they are chakki ground or machine ground and how finely or coarsely the wheat grains are ground. if there is more fibre ratio in the atta, it will absorb more liquids. if the batter has been mixed too much, then the batter will start resembling and becoming like chapati dough, which results in the formation of gluten strands in the dough. thus when baking the cake does not rise and becomes like a lumpy doughy mass of cooked atta.
also some whole wheat flour have a strong nutty flavor and that also comes through while baking. but if you add flavorings and spices, it does mask the aroma of atta. so when making cakes with whole wheat flour, do remember these suggestions and i hope they are helpful to you.
Hii..!!Are silicon moulds r helpful in removing the cake smoothly ???
i guess so. cannot say hundred percent as i have never used them for baking. but for homemade chocolates, they are easy to unmould.
Hi Dasanna,
This looks like a great recipe. I have a few questions. Can I use all purpose flour only for this recipe? Also would it be okay if I skip nutmeg powder as I cant find it where I stay.
Thanks in advance
Regards,
Chinmayi
yes you can use all purpose flour. you can even skip nutmeg powder. add 3/4 cup water instead of 1 cup water for all purpose flour.
hi, can we bake the same cake with fresh Strawberries in it? Can we use all wheat flour and use powdered sugar instead of jaggery?
i had tried the same recipe with fresh strawberries once, but the cake became too moist. so would not suggest fresh strawberries. powdered sugar can be added instead of jaggery.
Hi, can we use the same ingredients for pineapple upside down cake or some additions or deletions should be made can you please suggest.
you can use the same recipe for pineapple upside down cake. no additions or deletions required.
Hi there! I’m trying to make this cake in an OTG. Have only used convection microwave before so dunno how to operate the OTG here.. Do I have to work with both the coils switched on at the same time? Or just one coil at a time..
Please help!
both the heating elements should be on for even baking. keep the cake pan in the center rack.
Ok! Thank you so much 🙂 I shall be baking it today and will let you know how it turns out!
sure apoorva do try and let us know 🙂 thanks.
I made this today,(was my first upside down cake ;)) and turned out just awesome.I melted my powdered jaggery in water and then added into batter. lined with greased parchment paper and could unmould easily. Thanks a ton for this super awesome recipe. Also tried whole wheat banana bread recipe few days ago. It was also really very good.
Lotsa love <3
thanks for this feedback chaitra. melting powdered jaggery in water is a good way. thanks again.
I have just made the cake and wanted to suggest you add in the amount of cinnamon for the cakebatter as it is not mentioned in the ingredients but in the instructions.
Can not wait to taste it!!
Thank you =)
thanks for pointing out the error. i will update in the post.
it looks moist and delicious!Thanks for sharing the recipe,
welcome chhiwat
Hi. I’m trying this recipe for some of my vegan friends. I wanted to suggest that you include the size of the cake pan and when to add the vanilla and salt, since they aren’t mentioned in the procedures. It’s in the oven now, so I’ll rate it when I taste it! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
-Carolyn
thanks carolyn for the feedback. i have updated the the size of the cake pan as well as the vanilla and salt bit. hope the cake turned out well.
Hi,
Is lime juice necessary for the recipe? I want to bake this immediately, but don’t have lime at home.. 🙁
aarthi, use vinegar in the same amount.
Apple upside downcake is awesome! Next in queue to try. I am a big fan of your recipes and keep trying them every now and then. This is the place I check whenever I need a new recipe! I need help from you today on baking in convection mode of microwave. I am trying endlessly to get a good spongy and crumby cake but I am not getting good results. I bake mostly eggless and creamless cakes (thanks to your recipes I got dairy free cake solutions) and also with Whole Wheat. While baking, cake rises nicely but while cooling down it sits back completely. Because of that the cake texture is dense. It’s soft and cooked but it’s dense and not “crumby” like a cake should be. I have tried reducing baking power/soda, decreasing flour and sugar quantity, using maida as well but no results. I get a better cake done in cooker than microwave oven. Can you please suggest me what should I do to get a really fluffy and spongy cake with the right texture?
thanks keya. while baking in a convection oven, it is suggested to lower the temperature of the oven from 10 to 20 degrees. the heating is quick in a convection oven due to the fan. so if a recipe has 200 degrees celsius, then you bake at 190 or 180 degrees celsius. try this way and let me know.
I had a convection oven that used to heat up too much. I used to half the temperature. Like if the recipe called for 180 degrees celsius, I used to set it at 90. Each oven is different (though I doubt if anyone has it as bad as mine).
thats a big range of temperature difference, jyothsna. for mine i don’t even reduce the temperature. i just remove the baked good in less time. do get the oven checked, if possible.
I just made this for the first time. My family just loved it and since there was no eggs in it it was perfect for my daughter. We topped it with vanilla ice cream and it was the best. Love the recipes.
thanks toby. glad to read your positive feedback.
Hey Dassana,
I am thinking to make this cake for a party today and do not want to gamble. I can not afford to mess up anything, hence was wondering if I can simply mix all ingredients (like apple cake recipe) and bake it instead of making an upside down cake. Please let me know. I do not have coconut jaggery but have organic jaggery, hence I want to make this recipe in stead of the apple cake one. Please respond.
Regards,
Nidhi
hi nidhi, yes you can add the apples and make the cake. but chop the apples. you can use organic jaggery. the cake will be moist from within due to the presence of apples. i suggest to coat the apples with some flour very well before you add the liquids.
Hi dassana.. Lovely recipe. Please suggest another ingredient as a substitute for cinnamon powder .
try with garam masala powder. not exactly a substitute but still gives a warm flavor. just add about 1/4 tsp. too much will become overpowering. you can skip nutmeg powder in this case. if you do not like garam masala, then just add nutmeg powder. another substitute is cardamom powder. this will give a completely different aroma and flavor.
Can’t thank you enough for this awesome recipe. Most of the ingredients used in the cake are readily available and thats what I love about most of your recipes. No need to go to market to look for some exotic ingredients.
thanks anjali. i always try to make recipes which have ingredients easily available. since i know some ingredients can be difficult to get and also expensive at times.