Vegan Apple Cake

Real bits of apple throughout the cake add texture and flavor. And the caramel brown sugar frosting adds rich color and sweetness to every bite.

Ingredients & Substitutions

You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.

• Flour — You can use all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or even high-quality gluten-free flour for baking (usually, they’re labeled for baking). Learn more about all-purpose flour vs plain flour.
• Sugar — You’ll need both granulated sugar and brown sugar.
• Salt — Using salt balances the flavor of the sweetness.
• Spices — I add ground cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice for the best flavor.
• Baking soda — The baking soda will interact with the vinegar to create lift in this cake. Is baking soda bicarb soda? Learn more about how to use it in your plant-based dishes!
• Vegetable oil — You can use canola oil, olive oil, or avocado oil.
• Applesauce — to add to the apple flavor, we’ll add one cup of unsweetened applesauce or use this applesauce replacement.
• Vinegar — Let’s continue with the apple theme and use apple cider vinegar. You can substitute regular white vinegar or even lemon juice.
• Vanilla — We’ll add vanilla extract to enhance the cake’s flavor.
• Apples — You’ll need two large apples. I prefer using a tart Granny Smith apple for this recipe.

How to Make Vegan Apple Cake

1. Stir together flour, sugar, salt, spices, and baking soda.
2. Combine the vegetable oil, water, applesauce, vinegar, and vanilla in a small bowl.
3. Stir together the water mixture and the flour mixture.
4. Fold in the chopped apples. Learn more about preparing apples for apple cake (and pies).
5. Pour the batter into a prepared pan.
6. Bake until the cake is done and golden on top.

How to Make This Cake Healthier

This is an egg-free apple cake, which means “right out of the box,” it’s a bit healthier than some. And if you prefer this cake as is, go for it. But in case you want a healthy vegan apple cake, here are some ideas:

• Reduce the granulated sugar by 25%
• Use whole wheat flour (either 100% or half all-purpose and half whole wheat flour)
• Add fiber by including a tablespoon or two of ground flaxseed, ground chia seeds, or psyllium husk fiber.
• Skip the sugary frosting and go with something light, like aquafaba whipped cream. You can use my vegan meringue recipe as a guide.

Frosting Options

Here are some great options for topping your apple cake:

• Sprinkle powdered sugar — A little bit of powdered sugar sprinkled over the top is a nice touch.
• Dairy-free whipped cream — I love the texture of whipped cream on a cake (such as my vegan pineapple cake), and it pairs nicely with this one!
• Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting
• Caramel Brown Sugar Frosting — This is what you see pictured in these photos. It’s pretty simple to make. The step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.

Frequently-Asked Questions

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Vegan Apple Cake

This easy apple cake recipe is made with minimal, easy-to-find ingredients, and delivers a cake that's beautiful, easy, and delicious! Serve it with chocolate frosting or any of your favorite frosting recipes.

4.25 from 4 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Resting time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 slices

Calories: 330kcal

Author: Marly McMillen

Ingredients

CupsMetric

• ▢ 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ▢ ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ▢ ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (see notes)
• ▢ 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ▢ ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• ▢ 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• ▢ 2 cup cold water
• ▢ 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 ½ cups peeled chopped apples (about 2 large apples, cut into 1/2-inch chunks, or smaller)
• ▢ Topping Ideas: Powdered sugar, Vegan Butterscotch, or Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting (see notes)

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Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F/175°C. Spray a 9×13 cake pan with vegetable spray.
2. Combine in a large mixing bowl the flour, sugar, salt, spices, and baking soda. Stir to combine.
   
3. In a smaller bowl, combine the vegetable oil, water, applesauce, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
   
4. Pour the water mixture into the flour mixture.
   
5. First, stir with a spatula.
   
6. Then stir with a whisk to remove large clumps of flour.
   
7. Fold in the chopped apples. Learn more about preparing apples for apple cake (and pies).
   
8. Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
   
9. Allow the cake to cool for about 30 minutes before serving. Right before serving, sprinkle the top with powdered sugar or top with brown sugar frosting (see recipe below).
10. Topping Ideas: Powdered sugar, Vegan Butterscotch, Vegan Caramel, or Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

Recommended Equipment

1 9×13 Casserole Dish

(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)

Notes

Top with powdered sugar or any of these frostings:

• Vegan Vanilla Frosting
• Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

Brown Sugar Frosting

• 1/4 cup vegan butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup plant-based milk or creamer
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Cook the vegan butter, brown sugar and plant-based milk (or creamer) in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir until the butter melts. Then stop stirring and let it come to a boil. Once boiling, let it continue boiling for 1 minute. Then turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for another minute. Whisk in the powdered sugar and then remove from heat. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Drizzle it over the warm cake.

Calories: 330kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 382mg | Potassium: 94mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 23IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg

The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Did you make this recipe?

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Vegan Apple Recipes

If you love this vegan apple cake as much as me, you’ll want more apple desserts. Such as my vegan apple pie. Try these yummy vegan apple recipes, too:

Vegan Apple Recipes You’ll Want to Make Again and Again

Vegan Apple Cinnamon Rolls

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Baked Apple Slices

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Vegan Apple Crisp

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About the Author

Hi! I’m Marly McMillen. I’m the founding editor, author, recipe developer, vegan home chef, and food stylist behind Namely Marly. I’m so grateful to you and every member of my audience for your support and dedication. More about Namely Marly ›