Warming notes of cinnamon, ginger, allspice and sweet crisp apples come together in this simple vegan apple spice cake. This cake is made with olive oil instead of butter or coconut oil, however, any neutral flavoured vegetable oil will work. This is a wonderful cake to serve with a hot cup of coffee or tea this autumn season.
I definitely have a thing for apple recipes, and come fall, there's not shortage of apple cakes and tarts on my table. I have quite a few popular recipes like my Vegan French Apple Tart, Vegan German Apple Cake or my simple Vegan Apple Cinnamon Galette—add them to your list of fall baking.
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Why This Recipe Works
Autumn is the perfect season to enjoy apples in our baking—this vegan apple spice cake is a wonderful example of that. Warming spices like cinnamon, allspice, and ginger mingle with sweet apples in the elegant bundt cake.
Diced apples create natural sweetness and moisture to this cake without the need to use very much sugar. Moreover, the use of extra virgin olive oil lends additional moisture and density to the cake. It's baked to a beautiful golden and slightly crunchy exterior (think muffin tops) and borders on pound cake texture for the crumb, despite there being no butter or eggs in the recipe.
The Best Apples For This Cake
Pretty much any apple will work for this vegan apple spice cake. However, I recommend not using the red delicious variety as they tend to be on the drier side. You want a fresh apple that is juicy, crisp, and will hold together well after baking. As such, my favourite baking apples are:
- Gala
- Pink lady
- Honey crisp
- Jazz
- Braeburn
- Cosmic crisp
Ingredients
In addition to a 10" bundt cake pan, you will need a few basic ingredients to make this recipe. For the full list of ingredients with quantities of each, please see the recipe card further down the post.
- ground flax seeds (flax meal)
- water
- extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
- granulated sugar
- almond milk
- vanilla
- apple cider vinegar
- all-purpose flour
- baking soda
- salt
- cinnamon
- ginger
- allspice
- 2 apples
Step by Step Guide
The following is a brief guide for the steps involved in making my vegan apple spice cake. For the detailed instructions, please see the recipe card further down the post.
Step 1: to combine the flax meal and water and let stand for 5 minutes, or until thickened. The coat the prepared apple pieces in a bit of flour.
Step 2: combine the wet ingredients to the flax mixture and mix well.
Step 3: Combine the dry ingredients together, then mix the wet and dry ingredients together and pour the cake batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake.
If you're new to working with bundt pans, please visit my post about how to bake in bundt pans where I share 8 expert tips to help prevent mishaps.
Helpful Tips
- Thoroughly grease the bundt pan - this recipe will fit a 10" bundt pan. As such, be sure to grease every inch of the pan to prevent sticking. You may still need to run a long sharp knife gently around the edges and center of the pan to help it release. However, if you pan was greased really well, it should come out in one beautiful piece no problem. Again, if you're new to bundt pans, please visit my post about how to use a bundt pan.
- Use Gala or Granny Smith apples - As mentioned above, avoid red delicious apples and opt for gala, granny smith, braeburn, pink lady or jazz apples. The apple pieces need to stay in tact while baking and not leave you with a mushy mess.
- Cut the apples into ½" cubes - the best size dice for the apples is about ½" in size. This is small enough that they won't create big craters or soft spots in the crumb or the top of the cake.
- Use a neutral tasting vegetable oil - this recipe uses extra virgin olive oil, however, I have also made this successfully with other neutral vegetable oils. Avoid full bodied olive oils as they could alter the flavour of your cake.
- Don't over mix the batter-As with most cake recipes, you only want to mix until the flour is combined evenly. This means there should be no white streaks of flour in the batter. Over-mixing may cause your cake to be heavy and not rise properly.
- Spoon the batter into the bundt cake pan, don't pour -this will ensure you won't create any air bubbles or craters in the cake.
- Wait 10 minutes before releasing your cake from the pan - a hot cake is more prone to breaking. As such, place the cake tin on a cooling rack and wait about 10 minutes before unmolding. Don't extend the pan cooling time otherwise your cake will start to condensate and could become mushy.
Storage Notes
Storage: the baked cake should be stored covered in the fridge and should last up to 3-4 days this way.
Freezing: to freeze this cake, it works best to portion the cake first and then wrap the slices tightly in freezer safe wrap and place in a freezer safe bag before popping into the freezer. The slices should last up to 3 months. Defrost the slices in the fridge overnight before serving.
For additional information on safe food handling and storage, please visit: the Government of Canada Food Safety website, USDA Food Safety Inspection Agency website or your country's official food safety website.
Frequently Asked Questions
I get this question a lot, so I'm going to start including this exchange in my recipes whenever possible. For this recipe, you will want to replace the 2 tablespoon of flax meal and the 4 tablespoon of water with 2 large eggs. However, my advice is to give the flax a go- it's undetectable in this recipe and provides ample binding power and moisture to this recipe, same as eggs would.
You can use the above mentioned flours in equal measure. Because whole wheat and spelt are heavier than all purpose, you may need to increase the liquid measure slightly, however, I have made this recipe successfully with both light spelt flour and whole wheat flour without needing to alter the liquid.
Of course, the moisture content of your apples also plays a role. In short, if the batter seems dry and hard to mix, add a couple tablespoons of non-dairy milk. The key it to have a batter that is spoon-able, but not so thick that it won't spread nicely in your baking pan.
While I have not tried it, you could try an all-purpose gluten-free baking flour in exchange for the all purpose flour. However, I can't promise that this option will work well in a bundt pan; gluten helps the cake hold its shape.
However, if you're keen, I might suggest replacing the flax and water with eggs as per above. Eggs will help provide more structure to the cake and prevent it from falling apart during unmolding.
You will also need to adjust the baking time for this cake. Gluten-free flour blends can cook faster than wheat based flour. As such, check your cake halfway through the baking time to make sure it's not over browning or burning.
If you made my Vegan Apple Spice Cake please leave me a comment below with a star rating; it really helps others who are interested in making the recipe. For more from The Simple Green, follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest. Consider becoming a subscriber to receive emails of new recipes and posts.
Vegan Apple Spice Cake
Special Equipment
- 10" Bundt Pan
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp flax meal
- 4 tbsp water
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, or vegetable oil
- ¾ cup organic cane sugar
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk , or non-dairy milk of choice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 2 medium (300g) apples, peeled, cored and diced into ½" pieces
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Thoroughly grease the bundt pan. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the flax meal and water and let stand for 5 minutes, or until thickened. In a small bowl, combine the apples and the 1 tablespoon flour until evenly coated.
- In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, sugar, almond milk, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla. Add the flax mixture and stir until combined.
- To a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and allspice.
- Add the dry ingredients to the oil mixture and stir just until moistened. Stir in the apples until evenly distributed. Spoon the mixture into the prepared bundt pan and smooth the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until the a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before carefully inverting it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Top with a generous dusting of powdered sugar.
Notes
Nutrition
This is an approximation of the nutrition offered in this recipe, and is created using a nutrition calculator. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee accuracy. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate again with your preferred calculator.
Disclaimer
all recipes on The Simple Green are developed and tested in a Canadian kitchen, at normal elevation, using electric appliances and ingredients available in Canada. Results may vary.
This is such a beautiful bunt cake Heidi! Love all the gorgeous photos. Can’t wait to make this.
Thank you so much, Crystal! I hope you love it!
LOVE this recipe! Cake turned out beautifully, and you will be able to fool even the toughest vegan critics.
Perfect with a cup of coffee on a cold Saskatchewan winter day
XO
Thank you so much, Leah! Really happy to hear the feedback and glad it could warm up your chilly day a little xo
I've never baked using any vegan recipes before, but I will be from now on after trying this one!! This was the nicest cake I've ever tried and made myself. Taste and texture-wise. Am definitely going to make this again this week and maybe try it with raisins! Thanks!
So happy to hear it! Thanks, Megan xo
I will right away grab your rss as I can not find your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Please let me know so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
Very simple and delicious cake! I made it for my partner and I using some older apples sitting in my fridge and it was a huge hit! Love the simple, clean ingredients and subtle sweetness and spice in this cake. Thank you for the recipe!
Thank you so much for making my recipe, Hilary! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Light and fluffy vegan apple cake with a cinnamon sugar topping. Packed with fresh apple flavor and absolutely divine served warm with vegan whipped cream.
So glad you like the recipe 🙂
Would you mind if I share your blog with my twitter group? Please let me know!
Yes, of course you can!
This turned out great. I baked it in a 9x13 pan instead because bunt pans don't ever work for me hahaha. It was so good!
Haha! I feel you; they can be a challenge depending on the recipe and type of pan. I'm so happy you like it, Carrie 🙂
I really like your blog and your recipes look delicious even though i am not a vegan at all. I look forward to trying this on the weekend and I'll let you know how it goes! Looks beautiful, too.
Thank you, Regina! Let me know how it goes 🙂
Hi Heidi,
yesterday evening I found your recipe via google search and was attracted on firsts glance. The photos are so stunningly beautiful. The recipe had all my attention after scrolling through and I knew I had to make it.
I used a fifty fifty variation of whole and white spelt flour and used 50% coconut blossom sugar.
This cake is über delicious! I baked it in a rectangular decoartive mold and it was ready in 40 min. Many thanks for this, we will enjoy it over the weekend.
Hugs, Heike
Hi Heike! I am so pleased to hear it 🙂 Thank you for choosing to make my recipe!
big hugs,
Heidi
Hi! Do you think this recipe would turn out alright if I subbed the apple chunks for apple sauce?
HI Jillian! I suspect that the batter may become too wet, so I wouldn't suggest using applesauce in exchange for the apple chunks.
Beautiful and delicious cake! My partner loves Jewish Apple Cake and we looked and looked for a vegan recipe, had a few fails but this one hit the spot and came out perfectly! We've made it twice now in a few weeks. Thank you for creating this recipe and I will definitely check out some more.
I am so happy to hear this, Fiona! Glad you like it 🙂
Lovely! Made it in a 4x8 loaf pan plus one mini loaf pan, topped with toasted walnuts, sprinkled with powdered sugar. Used the mini as a taster - delicious and just subtly sweet as described. Taking the big loaf to a vegan dinner tonight.
I like the mini loaf a bit more as less time in the oven resulted in the perfect walnuts. The larger loaf had tiny bits of charring on nut edges which is also nice, but added a tiny bit bitterness. I guess it comes down to personal preference as both are very yummy.
I think it would make about 4 mini loafs and I would like to try it in a muffin tin next as muffins would be perfect for freezing for grab-and-go snacks.
Thanks for sharing!
I'm so happy to hear you like the recipe, Susan! Apologies for the late reply; your message was sent to my spam folder, sadly.
Hi Heidi,
This looks so delicious! I’m wondering if I can substitute regular spelt flour for light? Is there a difference in the baking and outcome of the cake? Thanks for this beautiful recipe!
Hi Diane! Thank you 🙂 That's a great question and yes you certainly can. You may need to add a bit more almond milk to the recipe as both regular and whole spelt flour can absorb more liquid. Let me know how it turns out for you!
Cake looked good and smelled good, but came out a tad dry but definitely needed more salt. Next time I will start checking at about 35 minutes and will try 1/2 - 1 tsp salt.
Thank you for the feedback 🙂 Dryness could also be due to the amount of moisture in the apples used.