This vegan apple cake is wholesome and rustic. It’s wonderfully moist, full of apples, cinnamon and spice. And it has a deliciously crunchy nut streusel crumble topping. The perfect fall bake!
We love to celebrate the arrival of apple season with a big wedge of this vegan apple cake! It’s perfect for using up those wonky looking and windfall apples that you don’t want to go to waste.
The cake is not overly sweet, uses wholemeal flour and plenty of apples so it’s got a wholesome, almost healthy, feel to it. I’ve just enjoyed a slice for breakfast!
This vegan apple cake recipe is based on the first ever dairy free cake I learnt how to make from the Vegan Society, and I was amazed how easy it is to make a cake without eggs.
We've made variations of this spiced apple cake many times over the years and my favourite way is with a German inspired walnut streusel on top. This makes it almost like a cross between a cake and an apple crumble! We hope you enjoy it!
Ingredient tips
Here's what you’ll need to make the cake batter:
- Cooking apples - we usually use Bramleys. Granny smith would be a good alternative. Most of the apples are used to make applesauce, and the rest are cut into chunks to be mixed into the batter. We usually leave the peel on, but it's up to you!
- Vegetable oil - choose a neutral tasting oil such as sunflower or canola/rapeseed oil.
- Sugar - you can use caster sugar or a light brown sugar.
- Wholemeal / wholewheat flour
- Bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
- Cinnamon - because no apple cake is complete without some!
- And mixed spice - pumpkin spice is a good alternative for our US friends.
And for the streusel topping:
- Walnuts
- Demerara sugar - it gives a great crunch to the topping
- Vegan butter
- Some more flour
- And a spoonful more cinnamon!
Step by step
You'll find the full recipe in the card at the end of the post, but here's a visual overview of how to make vegan apple cake:
Step 1 - Place the apples for the sauce in a saucepan with a splash of water. Cook on medium heat with the lid on, until soft and tender (depending on your apples this takes about 10 minutes). Puree until smooth with an immersion blender.
Step 2 - In a mixing bowl, combine the oil and the sugar, then add the applesauce and whisk in the baking soda. It will fizz up at this point.
Step 3 - Next mix in the flour and spices until you have a light, but quite thick batter.
Step 4 - Gently fold in the apple chunks, but don't overmix. Transfer into a 8 inch/20cm greased springform tin, and level out the top with a spatula.
Step 5 - For the topping, combine the finely chopped walnuts, demerara sugar, flour, cinnamon and vegan butter. I often use my fingertips for this, but you can also just give it a good mix with a spatula.
Step 6 - Cover the cake batter with the streusel topping, and gently firm it down all over the cake. Then bake in a preheated oven at 180℃ / 350℉ for 40-50 minutes.
Variations & substitutions
If you have canned sugar free applesauce you can use it instead of making your own. You’ll want around 1 ½ cups or 375g apple sauce for one cake.
We’ve found it really handy to make a big batch of applesauce and freeze it in individual portions. Simply defrost before use.
Instead of walnuts, you could use pecans, hazelnuts, almonds or other nuts. And if you want a nut free streusel topping, then try pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds instead.
For a vegan gluten free apple cake, replace the flour with a 1:1 gluten free flour blend. If the mix doesn't contain xanthum gum, then you can add 1 teaspoon to the flour to help the cake bind and hold together better.
Serving
You can simply enjoy a slice of this vegan apple cake on its own at teatime or with coffee.
But if you want to make it into more of a dessert, then it's also delicious served with some custard or some vegan vanilla ice cream.
Storage
Keep leftovers in a cake tin or other airtight container and use within three days.
You can also freeze the cake - either whole or in slices. First let it cool completely. Next, wrap it very well or place in an airtight bag and squeeze out the excess air. You can also put it a container to stop it getting squashed. The cake should keep well in the freezer for at least 3 months. Defrost the cake at room temperature.
More vegan apple recipes
We hope you like our vegan apple cake! Here at Vegan on Board we really love to make the most of apple season, so we have lots more vegan apple recipes for you! Check these ones out:
Try our French inspired Vegan Apple Tart
Have these Vegan Apple Pancakes for breakfast
Learn how to make a Vegan Apple Strudel from scratch
Or have a go at this Apple Curry!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Apple Cake
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 3¼ cups (400 g) cooking apples sliced for applesauce
- ¾ cup (100 g) extra apples diced
- ½ cup (100 g) caster sugar
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) vegetable oil
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda baking soda
- 1¾ cup (225 g) wholemeal / wholewheat flour
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp mixed spice or pumpkin spice
Nut Streusel Topping
- ½ cup (50 g) walnuts finely chopped
- ¼ cup (40 g) demerara sugar
- ¼ cup (30 g) wholemeal / wholewheat flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp (25 g) vegan butter
Instructions
Cake batter
- Place the apples for the sauce in a saucepan with a tablespoon of water. Cook on medium heat with the lid on, until soft and tender (about 10 minutes, depending on your apples). Puree until smooth with an immersion blender.3¼ cups (400 g) cooking apples
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
- In a mixing bowl, combine the oil and the sugar, then add the applesauce and whisk in the baking soda. It will fizz up at this point.½ cup (100 g) caster sugar, ⅓ cup (80 ml) vegetable oil, 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Next mix in the flour and spices until you have a light, but quite thick batter.1¾ cup (225 g) wholemeal / wholewheat flour, ½ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp mixed spice
- Gently fold in the diced apple chunks, but don't overmix.¾ cup (100 g) extra apples
- Transfer the batter into a 8 inch/20cm greased springform tin, and level out the top with a spatula.
Nut streusel topping
- For the topping, combine the finely chopped walnuts, demerara sugar, flour, cinnamon and vegan butter. I often use my fingertips for this, but you can also just give it a good mix with a spatula.½ cup (50 g) walnuts, ¼ cup (40 g) demerara sugar, ¼ cup (30 g) wholemeal / wholewheat flour, 2 tbsp (25 g) vegan butter, 1 tsp cinnamon
- Cover the cake batter with the streusel topping, and gently firm it down all over the cake.
Baking the cake
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 40-50 minutes.
- To test if the cake is done, insert a cake tester, toothpick or skewer into its center. If it comes out clean, without batter stuck to it, it is done. Keep in mind that there are apple chunks, so it will retain more moisture than other cakes.
- When ready to serve, remove the cake from the tin by running a knife around the edge of the cake, release the springform, gently loosen the cake from the base and slide onto a serving plate.
Notes
Nutrition
This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.
Lynne says
Delicious recipe, well described. With vegan vanilla ice cream (which is not necessary but makes it decadent for a special occasion) it is heavenly! I mixed pecan and walnut together for the topping.
Sophie and Paul says
So glad you loved our apple cake Lynne! Using mix of pecans and walnuts sounds delicious. Thanks so much for sharing your feedback 🙂
Geraldine Pike says
Hi there, made this cake today and was amazed and how well it came out. Not to sweet, very soft. The streusel I did not pack hard enough on the top to let it stick to the cake. Thanks for the instructions on how to make the apple sauce i made it and it came out amazing. When the cake came out of the oven all i can think of is it needs custard or ice-cream. Thanks for an amazing blog.
Riv says
Great recipe. Does it work with gluten-free flour?
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Riv, we haven't tried it but a lot of gluten-free flour blends can replace plain flour in equal quantity. check if there is xanthan gum in the gluten-free flour, and if not, we recommend adding a little to help with binding. Hope this helps, happy baking! S&P
Riv says
Thanks S&P, it turned out well with g/f flour, i didn't have xanthan gum but it was still delicious especially with home-grown apples (for apple nerds - i used Arthur Turners for the applesauce and russets for the diced apples 😊). Thanks for the great recipes, i really appreciate the ethos of your site. Happy apple season & autumn travels!
Suzy says
I've made this cake before and forgot to leave a comment. It's the best!! I'm thinking of making it into cupcakes today. Can you tell me how well they might freeze? I try not to make a whole cake for just the two of us! Thanks much!!