Love cakes? Love to bake and eat? Love apples? Then it is time to bake the perfect apple cake. Even if you don’t like to eat apples, you will end up eating the cake for sure.
Apple Cake with Cinnamon is a classic coffee cake that looks great, tastes great and gives a good nutritional boost. I wonder if there is any other cake which is so delicious, healthy, wholesome and yummy at the same time. An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but a slice of an apple cake will definitely keep those blues away. The first time I tried making the apple cake, I was very skeptical of using apples in it and wondered about the final outcome. As the baking life went by, this cake reigns for it fills the stomach, satisfies the sweet-something craving, renders a spicy taste in the mouth, and gives the wholesome goodness of having eaten the right stuff instead of indulging in not-so healthy baked options. I just love the heady scent of the apple cake with cinnamon being baked.
Diced apples in cinnamon cake batter
Here is the Standard Recipie for Apple Cake with Cinnamon Notes. I have my baking notes at the end of the recipie where I have introduced variations and made this cake tastier and healthier.
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Sugar
¾ Cup Oil and a small dollop of butter
2-3 Eggs
3-4 Apples – Diced or sliced
2 tsp – Cinnamon (Freshly Ground)
½ tsp Salt (optional)
2 tsp Baking Powder
½ Cup Milk
To make your own perfect apple cake:
Grease baking dish with butter or oil and dust some flour on it. Set the oven to 170-180 degrees for 10 minutes.
Sieve flour, cinnamon powder, baking powder and salt.
Beat eggs (till fluffy), add sugar, butter and oil together.
Fold in the flour mixture. Use milk to ensure that the batter is smooth enough and sticks to the mixing spoon.
Add apple chunks. Pour the mixture in the greased baking dish. If you like, dust cinnamon on top.
Bake for half hour or till the done.
Healthy and Wholesome Teatime Apple Cake
My notes on baking the Perfect Apple Cinnamon Cake
- Don’t use a mixer or blender for the batter. Try to do it manually. Beat the eggs till fluffy, add other ingredients and so on. I don’t know and don’t care why, but the cakes turn out softer and seem to have a character of their own.
- Instead of refined flour/ maida/ self raising flour, opt for whole wheat flour as it gives the cake a nice texture while making it healthy and wholesome. For drama, I sometimes add 3 teaspoons of rolled oats or broken wheat grains.
- Sugar is any cake’s necessary nectar. But for the fresh apple cake, drastically reduce the sugar as the apples impart a good amount of sweetness to the cake. I like that applesque flavour to reign rather than biting into a sweet cake with a hint of apple. For the above recipie, I only use half cup of sugar. You can increase the amount of apples to make the mixture sweeter.
- Compared to butter, oil gives the cake a good texture, and consistency to the batter. Oil also keeps the cake moist later. Aim to use oil as a medium to make the batter better, instead of using it as a main ingredient. Throw in a little butter for no-compromise on taste.
- Salt is optional but I recommend its use as it brings out the best of the cinnamon. Moreover, I don’t like a cake that tastes only sweet, sweet and sweet all along. Milk or sour curd is an optional taste enhancer. Be experimental here.
- Apples – Diced/ sliced, crushed, or whatever – they are going to get cooked anyway. Keep the apple skin intact for it imparts good taste and a wonderful texture to the cake. Not to mention the goodness of those nutrients.
- Cinnamon – Always try to grind it just before making the cake. There is a world of difference in using packed cinnamon powder and freshly grinding it. If you are fond of that spicy flavour and scent, be generous in sprinkling cinnamon in and on your cake.
- I do not use any icing or topping for the cake itself is tasty and does not need embellishment.
It is not now time for you to bake and let me know how it went. If you do any interesting variations, let me know. I will try it out too 
Mystic Peace Poet December 17, 2009 at 12:52 am
Hey sweety, I just baked a organic banana bread and it turned out yummy…but tell me what temp you think is best for this excellent and most tempting cake of yours…I love green apples, which I buy to make Apple Crumble with Vanilla Bean ice cream. Perhaps this time I will try out this cake! Ok…let me know.
Happy Baking.
(BTW, loved your fruit cake recipe…many fans of fruit cake in my family, don’t know though what the coke-soaking will do since I do not use alcohol in my cooking, and would like to try the coke option you mentioned).
Ishrath December 17, 2009 at 5:22 am
Glad to see you in action, MPP. My cake baking temperature is usually around 160-180 degrees centigrade for about 30-45 minutes depending upon batter. Skewer/ knife/toothpick test as usual to see if it is done. No hard and fast rule. While I like cakes light and moist, my family loves it over-baked with crisp crust so I go along with that.
Mystic Peace Poet December 17, 2009 at 12:53 am
opps…grammer mistake I meant ‘an organic banana bread’
Mommyof2girls March 19, 2010 at 2:35 am
After throwing away the brand new box of Betty Crocker Double Fudge and the Chocolate Chip frosting, we hoped to make a better, healthier cake and found this recipe. My 2 girls ( 9 and 11) and I made this cake (the first time ever from scratch). We all loved this cake. We made it yesterday and are making it again today. We are forever converted to making healthy cakes. Thank you for a good first impression.
Ishrath March 19, 2010 at 4:14 am
Great piece of work to throw the premixes out. I fully agree that there is no other better way than making your own stuff – where you get to control the ingredients, quality, taste and much more. No need to say how healthy home cokked food is.
I am glad your cakes are turning out great and hope that you too share some healthy recipies with me. I also had posted on a much healthier version of an already-healthy carrot cake. Maybe you should try that too. Also wanted to give you a heads-up that I am adding a new banana cake recipe with some tweaking to make it more healthy
I will keep you posted.
emily zhu August 23, 2010 at 8:41 pm
how do i noe when the cake is cooked because i gated 3 apples in to the cake nd diced one in so it seems very wet lke its not cooked but how can i be sure
Ishrath August 24, 2010 at 3:05 am
Emily: Too many apples can make the cake wet. It happened to me once. The cake does become soggy. I have also noted that some apple varieties do make the cake seem soggy or uncooked. One way is to add up on flour, or cut down on apples or leave the apple skin intact. The general standard is one apple per cup of flour…. and then you are free to experiment.
Good luck to you. Let me know if it helped.
NR August 26, 2011 at 9:31 am
This is a great recipe. Thanks. Unfortunately, my cake came out a little soggy because (I think) I put too much apple into it. Better luck next time!
ishrath August 27, 2011 at 11:48 am
NR: No worry! You can adjust the batter mix next time and use fewer apples. Let me know how it went.
NR August 27, 2011 at 11:55 am
Thanks for replying, Ishrath. By the way, I meant to ask you: my cake turned out very dense (I think) because I used ONLY whole wheat flour in an effort to keep it healthy (by ‘dense,’ I mean it’s not spongy like a cake should be). Now I don’t know for certain that it was the whole wheat flour that made it dense. Maybe it was the extra apple pieces. I’m guessing it was the flour though.
Anyway, my question is: do you know if the amount of baking powder needs to be increased if I use only whole wheat flour? I know that to retain the lightness, people usually add a bit of white flour even to ‘whole wheat’ baked dishes but I was wondering if there was a way to avoid using it.
Thanks for any advice you can give.
ishrath August 27, 2011 at 1:22 pm
NR: In my humble baking experience, whole wheat flour has always given me a denser cake. This is one thing I have learnt to live with as well as love. Only maida/ refined flour gives that light fluffy cake. Adding more baking powder will not help as it is best to maintain the 1cup:1tsp ratio.
Also, if you use an electronic blender/ mixer to make your batter, it results in a denser/ log-like cake. Its best to beat the butter-eggs-etc with hand as it retains more air bubbles within. Final folding with the flour should be gentle as well with minimal mixing. Im not sure but I have also heard about difference in conventional vs microwave oven baking (but I guess that is a far fetched thought).
I hope that you get your perfect mix soon. Im wondering if you should also experiment with a different variety of apples later. Let me know your thoughts.
ishrath August 27, 2011 at 2:13 pm
NR: The way it is… Im so sure that you will get your perfect cake soon. I will wait for that piece of news
Apples are a dicey medium to experiment. Would it be too much if I ask you to try your hand at the carrot cake? That cake somehow gives a better sense of judgement of how to balance the batter mix. Id recommend you try it if you are looking at mastering baking
Here is the link and you wont go wrong with it:
http://www.wanderingmist.com/good-food-kitchen/carrot-cake-recipe-an-easy-healthy-and-nutritious-dessert-for-health-conscious-adults-and-kids/
NR August 27, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Hmmm, I see. So, a denser cake it is, then.
I’d rather have a dense cake than an unhealthy one. 
Your point about electronic blenders might have some bearing on my problem, though. It so happens that I did use a blender. I know you didn’t recommend it even in the article but I got tired and impatient beating the egg by hand. Next time, I’ll force myself to do it all by hand. But yeah, I did take care to fold in the flour gently.
This time, I used the large red apples you get in supermarkets. I believe they’re the imported variety. I think using green apples would be really interesting because they have a sour-sweet taste (especially the skin) which should make for a nice contrast in tastes. Finding green apples here would be a problem though…
Thanks for all the great tips and for this recipe! The next time I bake a cake, I’ll try changing the baking powder to flour ratio slightly and I’ll add fewer apple pieces. Maybe I’ll also add some oatmeal for a more crumbly texture. I’ve bookmarked this page. Will drop a comment the next time I try it.
Take care.
Green Goddess September 27, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Re: whole wheat flour, I have a suggestion!
Whole wheat PASTRY flour makes a lighter cake, as it has less gluten and so would be more crumbly, less chewy. Also preferred for any quick breads or pie crusts. I prefer King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill brands. You could also try “White Whole Wheat” flour, which is less bitter than standard whole wheat but retains the 100% whole grain goodness. Save the regular whole wheat flour for yeast breads. It’s all about the protein gluten ratio in baked goods.
Also, I assume it’s 350 degree oven…in fahrenheit. What SIZE pan? 8 or 9″ round cake pan? 9″ square brownie pan? 9×14 lasagna pan? Well, I’m trying it tonight so I’ll find out!
I’d also suggest nutmeg and a smidge of cloves for a more spicy cake! I love nutmeg.
Emma January 15, 2012 at 10:37 am
Delicious and easy, thank you!
I used a 8″ square cake tin. Took just over 30 mins.
ishrath January 22, 2012 at 11:14 am
Emma: Im glad the cake turned out well. I hope to make an re-invented version of this cake soon. Will keep you posted. Thanks for wandering by.
deepthi June 15, 2012 at 10:36 am
HI,
I bakes this cake today and i have fallen in love with the process.I just about bought an OTG and started my baking with your recipe!
I love it
D
ishrath July 29, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Deepthi: This is such an honour. Thank you for choosing this recipe and I am so glad that this cake turned out well. Keep baking. Becoming a master baker is very easy when you let go. Do experiment. Love to hear from you again.