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.
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215 comments on “Cinnamon Apple Cake Recipe”
Have made this cake for numerous occasions and it’s always a hit. Very moist and not too sweet. One of my go to desserts.
Thanks Dee!
I made this recipe for my work place Christmas open house. It was a great success, it was so good! I’m baking it again for our family Christmas get together. I am planning to have it warm out of the oven and the smell of it baking is wonderful.
Thank you Darlene!
I made per recipe and was delicious and so easy. I will be making these for my neighbors at Christmas. We ate it with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce! Yum
Sounds great Carla. Thank you!
Great recipe! The first time I followed the recipe as is. The second time I used one apple, one cup pineapple tidbits, 1/2 cup raisins, and topped it off with cream cheese icing. REALLY GREAT!!
Sounds great Marc! Thanks.
I make this recipe as muffins for Christmas gifts for friends and neighbors…absolutely love this recipe been making it for many years…
Thanks Dolli!
How long to you bake the muffins?
Made it twice first followed the recipe. It went too fast so made it again and doubled for a 9×13 cake pan. It is also really good topped with a cream cheese frosting
Thank you!
Easy to make with ingredients I already had at home.
Not too sweet. We topped with whipped cream and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Delicious. Thank you
Thanks Marion!
Excellent…added 1/2 c raisins too…will be a regular for sure
Sound great Roxanne!
This is the best cinnamon apple cake ever! I’m baking it for the second time. My family loves it I wanted it to be part of our thanksgiving dessert. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks Gloria!
If I wanted to bake this in a loaf pan, what size would be best?
Hi Tina. A 9×5 loaf would best to convert from the round pan.
Can this recipe be doubled with no changes? I made it in a bundt pan and it didn’t have much height. If doubled, would it end up denser or would it rise higher than the single recipe?
Hi Dennis. Yes this recipe can be doubled with no changes. Depending on the size of the Bundt pan it may work better when doubled, however the bread itself won’t necessarily be denser.
Excellent! Crisp on the outside, tender and moist on the inside. Fantastic with some good vanilla ice cream.
Absolutely delicious! I left out the walnuts, cut down a little on the white sugar and added about a 1/4 applesauce. Made twice already and a big win each time
Thanks Hannah!
Can you use a bundt pan instead of a round cake pan?
Hi Jeanne. Yes, you can use a Bundt pan with this recipe as well.
Have you tried this recipe or a similar apple cake recipe using apple sauce for additional apple flavor?
Hi Kathleen. I haven’t tried that in this recipe, but I have replaced oil in some baking recipes with apple sauce with good results. I would think you could add applesauce to this cake as well.
Looks awesome. Simple to make. Taste yummy. Added raisins. Made a great breakfast muffin.
Easy recipe made it and it is a five star.
Simple and amazing! I sub’d 1/2 butter w/coconut oil. My flours were a blend of rice flour, almond flour, and guar gum. It came out so moist. I couldn’t stop eating this. If you need a special breakfast treat this is it!
Made this over the weekend exactly as written. I did shred the apples (Granny Smith) instead of dicing them. Turned out well, but for my taste it needs more cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves. I used an 8″ square pan and it didn’t rise as much as I thought it would, but I will definitely make this again and add more spices.
Followed instructions minus the nuts. I had high hopes and for some reason my cake is way overcooked. I can’t figure it out. 350 degrees set timer for 40min but
set my alarm to check at 30min and I had to pull it out! So upset, I’ll make again since everyone else had success, I just can’t figure out what I did!! Ps the batter was delicious lol
I would check the temp in your oven with oven thermometer, it may be off. I also forgot to mention i. My comments ablut recipe, i also sub’d walnuts for pecans. . Also, what do you grease your pan with? I do a thin layer of Avocado oil. I don’t use butter for things like this. Another thought if they cook so quickly, lower temp maybe and do in muffin cups.