This moist and fluffy Vegan Apple Cake tastes just like fall, with diced apples, crunchy walnuts, and warm cinnamon in every slice! It’s easy to make in one bowl and served with an optional caramel drizzle on top.
Left with tons of apples after a trip to the orchard? Use them up in this Perfect Vegan Apple Pie, this Apple Baked Oatmeal, and this Apple Upside Down Cake!
This Vegan Apple Cake is almost more apples than cake! Rich, fluffy, and comforting, it only takes one small piece to satisfy your sweet tooth. If your family is anything like mine, they’ll be asking you to make this as soon as the crisp fall weather arrives.
“My family said this is the BEST CAKE they have ever eaten. Whoa! It’s that amazing!” – Meg
From the comforting cinnamon to the tart-sweet apples in every slice, this apple cake is a real winner. Just don’t forget to serve it with the caramel drizzle on top when you want to take the cozy fall flavors up a notch. It seeps into the cake, making it extra moist and scrumptious. Yum!
Why you’ll love this easy vegan apple cake recipe
- Tastes like an apple fritter – If you love soft, fluffy, apple-filled vegan apple fritters, then you’re going to love this apple cake!
- The best vegan apple dessert – This is the dessert to turn to when you need a break from pumpkin recipes. It’s loaded with tart-sweet apples, crunchy walnuts, and cinnamon to make every slice feel like a warm hug.
- An easy one-bowl recipe – Just mix the simple ingredients in one bowl, bake the cake, and enjoy!
How to make a vegan apple cake
Find the complete printable recipe with measurements below in the recipe card.
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Pour in the oil, applesauce, and vanilla and stir to combine. Fold in the diced apples and nuts (using your hands to incorporate everything if needed).
Press the batter into an even layer in the cake pan and bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
While the cake cools, prepare the caramel drizzle. Heat the vegan butter, brown sugar, and non-dairy milk together in a small pot until the butter melts. Bring to a boil and stir constantly. After 2 minutes, remove the pot from the heat.
Drizzle the caramel sauce over the cooled cake. Let it cool for 10 more minutes, then slice, serve, and enjoy!
Frequently asked questions
I recommend using firm apples with a mix of sweet and tart flavors. There are plenty of apples that are ideal for baking, but my favorites are Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, and Braeburn (I’ll usually use 2 to 3 varieties). Just avoid soft apples, like McIntosh apples, since they tend to turn to mush.
The cake batter in this recipe is much stiffer and heavier than other cake batters, so it may not work as a layer cake. If you’d still like to try it, split the batter into two round 8-inch cake pans and decorate the cooled cake layers with vegan buttercream frosting and the caramel drizzle.
Sure! A few readers have tested this and had good results. Divide the batter into a muffin tin and bake at 350ºF for 28 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the top before serving or decorate them with vegan maple buttercream frosting.
Sure! For a less-sweet cake, cut the sugar back to 1 1/2 cups or 1 cup.
A quality gluten-free flour mix will work pretty well as a substitute for the all-purpose flour.
The leftover cooled cake can be covered and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days, in the fridge for 4 to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
1 Bowl Vegan Apple Cake
Ingredients
Apple Cake
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup canola oil or melted coconut oil*
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups peeled and diced apples
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Optional Caramel Drizzle
- 4 tablespoons vegan butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- Now pour in the oil, applesauce and vanilla and stir until combined. The dough will be very stiff, not like most cake batters. This is because the fresh apples will provide a lot of moisture as the cake bakes.
- Fold in the diced apples and nuts. Use your hands if needed to get them incorporated.
- Press the cake batter into the pan, evenly. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cake cool while you prepare the caramel drizzle.
- Make the caramel drizzle: In a small pot on the stove, add the vegan butter, brown sugar and non-dairy milk. Heat over medium heat until the butter melts. Bring to a boil and stir constantly, being careful not to let the mixture overflow. Continue to boil for 2 minutes, stirring, then remove from heat.
- After the cake has cooled for about 20 minutes, drizzle the caramel sauce over it. Let cool for 10 more minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
- You may use canola oil or melted coconut oil. Or use any neutral flavored oil you like, such as avocado oil.
- Substitute a gluten-free flour mix to make the cake gluten free.
- You can use walnuts or pecans, or leave the nuts out entirely.
- Serve with a dollop of vegan whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, if desired.
loved this cake!! thank you for the wonderful recipe. i did 2/3 whole wheat flour, halved the sugar, subbed olive oil for coconut and used a mashed banana. instead of the apple sauce. it was so delicious. next time, i want to try even more apples- maybe 4 or 4.5 cups- do you think this would add too much moisture to the cake? thanks again!
You’re so welcome! This cake is one of my personal favorites. 🙂 I’m glad to hear it turned out with the changes you made. You could try adding more apples but it may add a bit too much moisture.
Love the cake! We decided to even make it instead apple pie! Thanks for the recipe, it was absolutely delicious!
Great delicious easy recipe with everyday cupboard ingredients .
I only used half the sugar and found it cooked in about 25 mins .Didn’t make sauce but didn’t need it
Thank you Nora
(Only yet made from this site choc cake in a mug they were same easy and delicious)
That cake was apple baked anything perfected. Even with our mistakes it was still good. We prepared it while caring for 2 littles and while one of us was in a Zoom meeting. Yet, the result was still amazing. Here are our well done mistakes/preferences:
1. Baked it in a bread tin. We had to play it by ear to see if it was done. We ended up “over cooking” it but what that really meanst was the bottom became a familiar crust-kind of like the bottom of sweet potato pie.
2. We didn’t put the caramel mixture in a pan. Didn’t see that step until after kids were in bed ☺️. We simply mixed it in a container and poured it over the cake. It was fine. But it didn’t need it.
3. We committed the nuts entirely.
Overall, we enjoyed it. Too sweet for is but we will use less sugar next time and maybe even a Graham cracker layer.
Thank you Nora for this AWESOME recipe… absolutely delicious!
This cake was so easy to make and simply delicious. I reduced the sugar a bit. It was otherwise perfect. Nora, do your kids eat all your vegan recipes? I have a hard time getting my kids to eat vegan (not the sweets of course. The cake is a huge hit).
Hi Karen! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I only cook vegan at our house, and it helps that my kids have never eaten meat, so they really have no interest in it. My older kids especially will eat dairy or eggs from time to time, and as they get older (12 year old twins) I want to empower them to make their own choices regarding what they put into their own bodies. I hope they will share my values. 🙂 My older two are pretty good about eating everything I cook these days, and they mostly like everything. The 5 year old however is a different story! I try to plan meals that I know he likes, and he relies a lot on vegan nuggets, vegan cheese sandwiches and such. But he loves fruit and oatmeal and lots of other kid friendly vegan foods. Best of luck! I know it’s hard. You might want to check out a post I wrote awhile back about feeding vegan kids. Thank you!
I’m so excited to try this recipe!
Do you think that this could be made in muffin tins for little individual servings?
I bet it could, that would be fun! You would need to bake it a bit less though.
I meant we plan to continue eating it during the week.
How to best store if we plan to eat it over a few days.
It will be fine at room temperature for about 2 days I’d say, but store it in the refrigerator for a few extra days. Thanks!
Best way to store after eating it once for dessert
Room temperature is fine for up to 2 days, or store in the fridge for a few extra days.
A delicious and easy vegan cake! Had a ton of apples I couldn’t let go to waste. Subbed the applesauce for pumpkin puree, the coconut oil for olive oil (after eyeing another apple olive oil cake recipe) and divided the sugar up between white, brown, and honey for the perfect level of sweetness.
Doubled the caramel sauce recipe (to have more for later!) and added a bit of pumpkin puree, vanilla, and sea salt. Such a yummy fall treat!
Absolutely delicious- a perfect autumnal desert. The only thing I had to tweak was the amount of sugar used, I used 1 cup instead of 2 and the cake was still on the upper tolerance of sweetness for me! Next time I will cut it to 3/4 cups and I think that will perfectly hit the right sweet spot for me ☺️
I also omitted the caramel sauce and rather served the cake with the plain yoghurt- perfection.
Also forgot to mention, adding a layer of slivered almonds on top of the cake just adds that perfect crunch which takes this cake to another level!
I think next time I’ll try and add some Amaretto or almond essence …
This is beyond tasty! This is my first fall as a vegan in New England and this was perfect ????
That’s great!
This is the most delicious/easiest dessert! Even though I used walnuts, it so reminded me of the richness of pecan pie. A total winner!!!
Thanks so much!
I absolutely love this recipe! I used gluten-free flour and it was just perfect! Since I was just baking for one I cut the recipe in 1/2 and used an 8 x 8 pan. Delicious!
Hi Sharon,
Did you use a gf flour blend or just one gf flour, like white rice flour?
Hello! Sounds like a great recipe, could I sub oil for all apple sauce or olive oil? Thank you 🙂
I’ve never tried using all applesauce, but I bet olive oil would work pretty well!
This apple cake is perfect! The whole family loved it. The carmel sauce compliments the cake so nicely. I halved the recipe and used 1/2 cup sugar. I will make this again and again.
Thanks Nora ?
You’re welcome!
Can this be made into cupcakes
I’ve never tried it, but it probably could!
Fantastic recipe!
Thank you Nora. This cake is absolutely delicious. I didn’t make the caramel sauce and I don’t feel that the cake is missing anything. I am so grateful to you for a recipe that works exactly as it is supposed to.
That is so great to hear! Thank you.
great post! Thanks for sharing this healthy recipe!
I made this today. I halved the recipe, swapped the flour 1:1 with gf flour, and added in a mashed banana and olive oil in place of the butter. So delicious!
Wow! Delish, and so easy! I omitted the nuts, but other than that I made as written. Another winner! Thank you, Nora!
You’re so welcome!!
Nora,
This is amazing. I made it with oat flour so added extra flour but otherwise true to your recipe! For the sauce, I had to use what I had on hand so did an oat milk with coconut sugar, vanilla, and brandy and then arrowroot to thicken it. AMAZING. Thanks so much.
You’re so welcome!! So glad it came out great!!
Absolutely delicious apple cake. I’m not vegan, but my daughter is. Every recipe I have made from Nora Cooks Vegan is excellent. I love the variety of vegan recipes she creates. I am a huge, huge fan. Thank you Nora
On this Apple cake, I shredded the apples because that’s my preference on any apple cake I have made. So moist and flavorful.
Thank you so much!!
This is delicious! I used just over 1 cup sugar and omitted the caramel sauce. Everyone loved it. Super easy too!