Easy one-bowl cinnamon apple cake recipe! This moist apple cake is topped with a simple cinnamon sugar crumble. So easy, so good!
This Cinnamon Apple Cake is an easy way to turn fresh apples into a delicious dessert. The cake is really simple to make.
The batter in made in one bowl, and it’s so quick to stir up that the cake will be ready to go into the oven by the time the oven preheats.
And the cake itself is pretty fantastic. It’s really moist, has plenty of apple, and the cinnamon sugar topping gives the cake a bit of buttery crunch.
How to make cinnamon apple cake
This cake is so easy to make! I recommend stirring it by hand rather than using an electric mixer to avoid overmixing the batter.
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, stir the brown sugar, oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla together until combined.
Step 2: Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in just until combined. Don’t overmix.
Step 3: Fold in the diced apple just until incorporated.
Step 4: Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth as needed.
Step 5: To make the topping, stir the butter, cinnamon, and sugar together. The mixed topping will look like wet sand.
Step 6: Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar topping over the cake batter.
Step 7: Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Recipe Tips!
- Oil: Any neutral oil will work in this recipe. You can use canola, vegetable, melted coconut oil, or even olive oil.
- Buttermilk: Regular or low-fat buttermilk will work. If you don’t have any buttermilk, you can make an easy substitute with this recipe.
- Flour: Be sure to properly measure the flour. Adding too much flour will give you a dry batter and a doughy or dense cake.
- Apple: Any baking apple will work. Granny Smith, Gala, Jonagold, and Honeycrisp are all good choices.
- Mixing: I recommend stirring this batter by hand. It’s easy to mix and mixing it by hand will help to avoid overmixing the batter.
Serving suggestion
This cake is great served as-is. If serving the cake warm, you can add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or dollop of whipped cream on top. It can also be topped with a drizzle of caramel sauce to make it more of a caramel apple cake.
Storage
Store any leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature. The cake should keep for 3-4 days when properly stored.
This cake is very moist. If you live in a humid area, you may prefer to store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge.
More apple recipes!
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Cinnamon Apple Cake
Equipment
- 9×13 metal baking pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar packed
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup buttermilk regular or low-fat ok
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour properly measured
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups peeled, cored, and chopped baking apples
Topping
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, stir brown sugar, oil, egg, buttermilk, and vanilla together until well-combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir just until incorporated.
- Fold in chopped apple.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- In a small bowl, stir sugar, cinnamon, and butter together.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the batter.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Notes
- Oil: Any neutral oil such as canola or vegetable will work.
- Flour: To properly measure the flour, sift or stir the flour, lightly spoon into measuring cup, and level.
- Apple: Apples such as Granny Smith, Jonagold, or Honeycrisp work well.
- Nutrition values are estimates.
Nutrition
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Originally published 10/2/12.
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Comments & Reviews
Judy says
Can this recipe be halved and then made into muffins? Sounds good for a luncheon dessert along with your brownie bites on the plate.
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried making the cake into muffins, but I would guess that it would work. Thank you!
Dolores says
Thank you Kate gotta try this thank you again!
janice revet says
awesome—-loved it!
Kate says
Thank you!
Marty Olson says
Can you use apple pie filling instead of fresh apples? Thank you.
Kate says
I haven’t tried that, but I don’t know that apple pie filling would work well because of the extra liquid/sauce in the filling.
Marty Olson says
Thank you.
Monique Rennie says
Out of curiosity, would there be a way to use cake flour instead of regular flower?
If so, would changes need to be made to the recipe, and what would they be?
Kate says
Hi! I haven’t tried using cake flour in this recipe. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Julia says
This was a nice moist cake. We liked it very much.
Kate says
Thanks!