This simple cinnamon sugar apple cake is light and fluffy, loaded with fresh apples, and topped with a crunchy cinnamon sugar layer!
Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake
This cinnamon sugar apple cake is just one of those things that is very regular but somehow elevates the day a little bit. It’s low maintenance, highly snackable, has delicious sweet apple flavor, and 100% as warming, fragrant, and cozy a basic apple cake should be.
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This is my most requested cake recipe at work. If I don’t cut the first piece- poof all gone! Don’t change a thing. Delicious and addicting.
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This apple cake is:
- light and fluffy
- loaded with fresh apples
- sweet but not overly sweet
- magically crispy with that layer of cinnamon-sugar on top
- a nice vehicle for some whipped cream or honey butter
- excellent with coffee
- and a sweater
- and a fall candle
- coming to you, warm, fresh-out-the-oven, in just under an hour.
It’s just so, so good. And I want to tell you all about it.
In This Post: Everything You Need For This Apple Cake
- VIDEO for how to make this recipe
- Ingredients you need
- Three ways to cut your apples
- Best apples for apple cake
- Frequently asked questions about this Apple Cake
- How to make this Apple Cake
- How to serve this apple cake
- Recipe variations on Apple Cake
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Click here to see the step-by-step web story instructions for this recipe!
Ingredients For Apple Cake
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Apples (anything can work, but Honeycrisp or Granny Smith Apples are 💯)
- Dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, brown sugar)
- Wet ingredients (egg, oil, buttermilk, vanilla)
- Cinnamon
- Sugar
- BUTTER
It’s very likely you already have everything on hand which makes this the best lazy weekend last-minute treat.
How To Cut Apples For Apple Cake
First of all, let me just establish that I do not peel my apples for anything. No thanks, man. I just cannot be bothered to spend any time removing a perfectly good, edible, nutritious peel. You go ahead and make the rules in your own kitchen.
Here are some apple-cutting options for you:
- Finely diced (top): classic apple cake situation. You’ll get tiny pockets of juicy apple tucked into your cake. Very normal and delicious.
- Thinly sliced (middle): my personal favorite. I use a mandoline* to slice the apples super thinly, and then I run through them again with a knife to create bite-sized, paper-thin pieces of apple. This allows you to still get those pockets of apple in your cake, but helps distribute the apples a bit better so you’re not ending up with such heavy chunks of apple in the cake.
- Shredded (bottom): the pieces of apple will magically sort of “disappear” into the cake. No pockets of apples – just lots of that naturally wonderful apple sweetness. This is my second favorite way to cut the apples.
The Best Apples For Apple Cake
Now that you know how to slice ’em, what’s the best type of apple to use in this recipe?
Here are a few of my favorites:
- My First Pick: Honeycrisp! Juicy, crunchy, local to Minnesota (true story!), and just the perfect tartness and sweetness for this cake. I also love these in apple crisp.
- A Close Second: Granny Smith. I love the tartness of these green wonders, so if you like a little more zing, this is a good one.
- In a Pinch: Fuji or Gala. Great apples, but not as good as our friends above! These will still work great for this cake and are very delicious.
Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake: Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of flour do you recommend?
All-purpose flour is perfect here!
Will this work without the crumb topping?
It totally will, but also, why would you not?! It’s so good!
Can I make this vegan?
Sure! Just use a vegan flax or chia seed egg, vegan butter, and dairy-free milk to make the buttermilk.
What type of apples would you recommend for this cake?
Just about any type of apple would work (it’s pretty forgiving!), but I prefer Honeycrisp apples.
Could I freeze this cake?
After baking? Yes. It won’t be quite as delicious as freshly-baked, but you should be able to freeze and then thaw it with no problem. I’d just recommend warming it a bit at a very low temp in the oven after thawing.
How could I make this healthy?
By nature, this is a cake, so I’d recommend trying another recipe! These Healthy Cinnamon Sugar Apple Muffins or Feel-Good Apple Muffins might be your best bet.
What is the best way to store this cake?
This would keep at room temperature (covered) for about three days. If you want it to last longer, I’d recommend storing it in the fridge after baking.
Here’s How To Make This Apple Cake Recipe
Let me show you how it’s done, step by step (in photos!).
Mix your apples into the batter in a large bowl and spread that mixture into a pan.
Top with a dust of that buttery cinnamon sugar sand.
Bake, slice, and now eat, like, a lot of apple cake.
This cake was the perfect weekend treat (not to mention Monday snack and Tuesday 2nd dinner), and guess what’s right around the corner? Wednesday breakfast.
Add some honey butter and coffee and you are in Cozy Fall Business.
In our house, we have no problem eating the. whole. thing. As in, two adults and one entire cake. A little piece here, and a little piece there, and three more pieces after dinner, and suddenly it’s time to make another apple cake.
Ways To Serve This Apple Cake
This cake makes for an excellent dessert, but also a little treat for a fall brunch.
Any way that you swing it, here are my favorite toppings to serve with this cake:
- Whipped Cream: Simple, delicious, easy to whip up.
- HONEY BUTTER: That’s what’s pictured in this post. You can find the quick method for this in the note of the recipe card.
- Glaze It: The glaze from these muffins is DELICIOUS and could absolutely work on top of this cake as well.
- Ice Cream: If you’re serving this as dessert, this cake is also delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
Apple Cake Variations
We like this one just the way it is, but there are some options if you’re looking to mix it up.
- Bake it in a different size pan. While we’ve never tested it officially, it should work to bake this in another pan, like a loaf pan or bundt pan. How pretty as a bundt! You could also maybe bake this in two 9-inch square pans, but your cake may be a little thinner.
- Make it into muffins. I’ve already mentioned this recipe, but I think this could work in muffin form too if you’re looking for something a little more grab and go (Jennifer Garner did it!). Just reduce the baking time.
- Use another fruit. I think this could work with some other fruit variations – like pears? peaches? berries? Lots of options here.
Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 1x
Description
This simple cinnamon sugar apple cake is light and fluffy, loaded with fresh apples, and topped with a crunchy cinnamon sugar layer!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Apple Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 egg
- 1 cup buttermilk or (1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon white vinegar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 1/2 cups chopped apples (see notes)
Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix or whisk ingredients in order given, stirring until just combined. Fold in your apples.
- Pour batter into a buttered 9×13 pan (alternatively, you can line with parchment paper).
- Combine last 3 ingredients to make a topping and sprinkle / spread it evenly over the batter.
- Bake for 45 minutes. Test with a toothpick if needed. Serve with honey butter or whipped cream if you want. APPLE CAKE IS THE BEST!
Equipment
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Notes
Apples: I found that two average sized apples was about the right amount to get 2-ish cups of cut apples. For cuts/textures, see the photo and notes in the post! I like to use a crispy, sweet apple like Honeycrisp for this cake, but honestly, I think just about any type of apple would work.
Types of Oil: Canola or vegetable oil is what I normally use, but olive oil is also really delicious in baked goods – it just has a unique, distinct, olive oily flavor. Also, I haven’t tried it yet but I’d be willing to bet that an equal amount of coconut oil or butter would work, too.
Honey Butter: Mix 2-3 tablespoons softened butter with 2-3 tablespoons of honey. Add a sprinkle of sea salt if you want to take it over the top (you do).
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: cinnamon apple cake, cinnamon sugar apple cake, apple cake
Recipe Card powered by 
More Delicious Fall Baking Recipes To Try
- Super Moist Pumpkin Bread (a fall must-bake!)
- Favorite Pumpkin Muffins (healthy, easy, and made in a blender)
- Five-Minute Single Serving Apple Crisp (the classic, made for one)
- Healthy Cinnamon Sugar Apple Muffins (like this cake, but a healthier boost!)
- Favorite Pumpkin Granola (big batch granola to give you all the delicious house smells)
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September 1, 2021
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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When I first saw this recipe, I thought it seemed suuuuper simple, which attracted me to it. I feel like lots of recipes these days are unnecessarily complex. The accessibility/simplicity of this is what makes it soooo amazing! Absolutely a wonderful recipe!
This is an awesome recipe! I’ve made this so many times i lost count. If you follow the instructions you shouldn’t have a problem with this recipe namely the size of your pan! Thanks for this delicious recipe
This recipe sucks. Why do people like it?? It made this very weird, gummy oil-tasting cake. Yuck.
Hi Karen, I just made this recipe as cupcakes. They came out amazing. Soft, delicious, slightly sweet, incredible apple flavor. I hope you try it again, it’s worth it.
I love your recipe for Cinnamon Sugar Apple Cake!
Mine’s been cooking for about 90 minutes now and it’s still wet inside. I used a 9 inch ceramic pan and I replaced the buttermilk with 1 cup soy milk plus lemon. I also put in some extra apples. Other than that I followed the recipe exactly – not sure what I did wrong, but I won’t be making this again
By opting for a smaller dish you created a deeper cake, you also added more apples which adds moisture. I imagine the soy milk also changed how the moisture/protein would combine but I can’t swear to that. You first two factors would be enough though to either make the cake take a very long time to bake/always turn out a little bit wetter than expected. Fresh fruit is a tricky thing in baking and this being an oil cake to begin with it’s going to be very wet.
This cake is the BEST!
I did extra apples. It makes the cake super moist but they loved it.
Did extra topping since that was a request.
Made 3 times now
Love this recipe! Do you think it would be ok to prep it the day/night before and have it in the baking dish in the fridge overnight and then bake it in the morning? Thanks!
That should work!
It’s great to most of the nutritional info. Doesn’t help unless you know how many ounces a serving is. Thanks.
This was amazing!!!! my whole family loved it!! thx
Made this in a 9 inch square pan because I wanted a thicker look to my cake. The pan took the entire batter,
it did not over flow and looked very good.
I thought the cake tasted better after several hours instead of warm.
Love love love this cake. Took it to a holiday party and it was a huge it. I did make the maple glaze from the muffins (browned the butter for extra amazingness) and put flaky salt on top. Wow!!
I’m really confused as to how this recipe doesn’t include any cinnamon or salt in the actual cake
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Mine turned out really sloppy. Take note: the metric units version says 237ml of buttermilk or 1 cup of milk + 1 tbsp vinegar. However, a metric cup is 250ml. So if you go with a metric cup as I did, (plus the vinegar), you’re adding too much liquid. I should have noticed this earlier but the recipe needs to be adjusted too.
Made this tonight and won 2nd place at our Fall Festival! Making it again for Friendsgiving this week 💛 I know I will never go wrong with a POY recipe!
Thank you for the delicious recipe! Can you freeze this cake?
We haven’t tried that yet, but let us know how it goes!
I baked this as written today based on the high number of good ratings. I think this recipe really missed the mark in terms of flavor and texture and overall meh. Not sure how there are so many good ratings on this one. Sorry for the negative review but I want to let others know. I am a seasoned baker and home cook so I’m perplexed on those commenters.
Very very good recipe
I eyeballed the apple and for me one very large honeycrisp was enough for the recipe
Kid friendly recipe as far as assisting you can’t really mess it up
Very good!!
Another great recipe from Pinch of Yum! This was a big hit at my book club meeting yesterday. Seriously so easy to come together. I used Honeycrisp apples and sliced them thin. As someone else mentioned in the comments, I went ahead and doubled the topping and man was that a good call. If you are considering trying, DO IT NOW.
This was yummy and moist but a little too sweet for my preferences? Maybe next time i will reduce sugar to 1.25 cups and maybe add a pinch of salt
Hi, I just read your recipe and it sounds delicious. I noticed one thing that does not look right when you change the size of it. The buttermilk calls for the same amount in all three versions. I’m not sure if you can correct it or not.
Hi, Linda! Thanks for letting us know about this issue. I’ve shared this issue with our team and we’re taking a look into it.
Super yummy and easy to make! A great way to use some of our apples from the orchard. I ended up making more of the topping to cover cake evenly.
This was so good! I halved the recipe and it fit perfectly in an 8×8 square pan. Mine baked in about 35 minutes. I would definitely make this again.
This is a great recipe! Here’s how I did it:
I had three honey crisp apples going bad. Didn’t measure how many cups I had, but they were perfect. Sliced them very thin.
Used the metric instructions for more accurate ingredient amounts.
Added cinnamon to the batter as well as some pumpkin pie spice.
Cut the sugar down by about 1/4 cup.
Made buttermilk with powdered buttermilk mix.
To the topping I added one packet of instant apple cinnamon oatmeal. It was so lovely on top I wished I had used two.
Next I will try this with pears! This is a keeper and I think it’ll be very versatile.
So delicious! I could eat that cinnamon sugar topping on its own. This was a fun recipe to make with my little one and a perfect way to spend a morning.