I remember my Grandma making this delicious cinnamon apple cake recipe when I was a little girl. The combination of cinnamon, apple, and walnuts is perfection. This is an old fashioned cake recipe that is loved by everyone and very easy to make.
Recipe For Apple Cake
This cake is so moist and forms a crumb topping with it’s wonderful cinnamon flavor. We chop up our apples pretty well so there are not huge apple chunks, but you can adjust to your liking. The classic combo of sweetness, spice and everything nice!
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Ingredients You Will Need:
- Butter – make sure the unsalted butter is softened.
- Sugars – you will need granulated sugar and dark brown sugar
- Eggs – 2 room temperature eggs.
- Vanilla extract – this adds a nice flavor to the apple cake.
- Flour – all-purpose flour
- Baking soda – this is added for the cake to rise.
- Cinnamon – ground cinnamon is a key ingredient in this apple cake recipe.
- Apples – you will need 2 medium apples. Whatever apples you prefer will work for this recipe
- Nuts – we prefer to use walnuts, but feel free to use any nuts that you like.
What You’ll Love This Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe:
This apple cinnamon cake is great for dessert or even breakfast. We make this a lot for the company and it always gets raves reviews with everyone wanting the recipe. This is also the perfect “snack cake” for my boys when they come home from school wanting a sweet treat. I love how easy this is to whip up with only a 20 minute prep time.
Cake is a classic easy dessert, whether it’s a chocolate or vanilla cake or even something with a bit of spice and fruit like this Cinnamon Apple Cake recipe.
Cakes that include the addition of fruit or veggies (like Carrot Cheesecake Cake or Cranberry Christmas Cake) tend to be super moist and delicious, and this apple cake is the perfect example of that!
How To Make Apple Cake
- Heat oven to 350°F and prepare cake pan.
- Beat the butter and sugars, then add in the eggs. Add in vanilla, and dry ingredients. Fold in the chopped apples and walnuts. Spoon the batter into cake pan.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes and cool. Cut the warm cake into slices and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream (if desired).
Tips
- The best baking apples are slightly tart, hold their shape during the cooking process and aren’t too juicy. Our favorites are Granny Smith, Jonathan or Janagold , Cortland, Braeburn and Honeycrisp apples.
- You can also shred the apples if you do not prefer that larger apple bite. Sometimes kids that get weird about food texture like it better like this and also eliminating the nuts.
- Another idea is a dusting of confectioners’ sugar on the cooled cake or drizzle with a glaze or caramel sauce.
- Serving this warm with ice cream is our favorite. You could also tip with whipped cream.
Other Apple Cake Recipes:
- Apple Upside-Down Cake
- Apple Butter Cake
- Caramel Apple Dump Cake
- Apple Cider Donut Cake
- Apple Pie Layered Cake
Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups chopped and peeled apples (about 2 medium apples)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray.
- In large bowl, beat softened butter and sugars with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla, flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the chopped apples and walnuts. Spoon into your greased pan.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool about 10-15 minutes. Cut the warm cake into slices and serve with ice cream.
Last Step:
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217 comments on “Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe”
I’ve made this cake 3 times in the past 2 weeks, and love it! The first time I made the recipe with just cinnamon, and the other times with half cinnamon, half pumpkin spice. Both delicious! I also substituted raisins for the walnuts, as I love raisins. This cake is so good, and one I will make over and over. I fact, I have 2 cakes cooling right now. Thanks for this great recipe! 🙂
Thanks Allison!
Just made this. Whole kitchen smells great.
planning to make the cake tomorrow , do I have to use powdered sugar ? or could I use the granulated one ?
Hi Anita. You will want to use granulated sugar for this recipe.
The best cinnamon apple cake! Delicious!
Absolutely divine!
I used gf flour, coconut oil instead of butter, half cup honey instead of the sugar and added more nuts and threw in some raisins
Just made the cinnamon apple cake smells delicious waiting for it to cool so I can have a cup of coffee with it… I’ll let you know when I eat it, I know it will be delicious
If not including the nuts (due to allergy) do I need to increase any ingredients? TY
Hi Kathy. You should be fine just omitting the nuts and not increasing anything else.
Best cake ever
Can you bake this in a 13×9 dish? If so how long bake time?
Hi Alicia. This really works best for a 9″ round or and 8″x 8″ square baking dish. A 9″ x 13″ may work well if you doubled the recipe.
I doubled everything and it worked perfect in a 9×13in pan….I added a homemade buttermilk glaze…IT WAS DEVINE!!!
absolutely wonderful, can this be done in loaf pans and if so what size. so I can give it as gifts for the holidays
how would you adjust this recipe for high altitude ? 8000 ft
Hi Suzanne. While I’m not too familiar with high altitude baking but King Arthur Baking has a good guide on that. I would try adding an extra egg, and an extra 1/4 cup flour, use a 1/4 teaspoon baking soda instead of 1 teaspoon, decrease the sugar by 1 tablespoon and bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes. Hope this helps.
Have made this twice in the last week or so using Granny Smith apples and pecans instead of walnuts. Very popular – all the family loved it. A favourite and so easy to make (I used my Thermomix).
Made this gluten free using King Arthur GF flour. Absolutely perfect and delicious.
Loved it!
I just finished making it I’ll let you know how it goes going to a pool party. Can I add icing sugar on top?
Hi Gabriela. Yes you can definitely add icing. Sounds delicious!
Made this today, it was marvelous to say the least. I will make this many more times. I doubled the recipe and baked it in a Bundt pan. Yummy!
How long did doubling the recipe and putting it in a Bundt pan take to bake?
Omg k I love love this recipe I think I know it like the back of my hand ✋
I’ve been getting so many Apple’s and this recipe is the bomb
So far I’ve made it several times and I am about to make at least four more today for friends xo ❤️
Thank you xo
Thanks Zandra!
Can this be made gluten free?
Hi Donovan. Yes, you could use a gluten-free flour with this recipe and have great results.
This is a delicious recipe. It’s my favorite. I use pecans and put them on a cookie sheet with pats of butter on top, baked at 350 deg f for 10 minutes. I really like making this for someone that hasn’t had it before and watching their reaction when they bite into it.
One of the most delicious and moist cakes ever! I make it frequently and everyone loves it.