Incredibly delicious vegan apple cake stirred in one bowl and using just a few ingredients. Soft, moist, sweet, and full of apples.

This vegan apple cake proves that you don't always need butter and eggs to bake something amazing! I came to bake this recipe because I wanted to bake this Healthy Apple Cake but I only had one egg. Definitely not enough to bake that or any of my usual apple cakes.

So, I thought I'd try something new, an eggless apple cake. And because I wanted to go the whole way and make it vegan, I used some nut milk instead of regular. I didn't have to worry about the butter, I love using oil in baking, and I have many many cake recipes using oil instead of butter up my sleeve. See these amazing Apple Muffins with Oil, for instance, they are our favorite fall muffins.

This recipe is so simple, you will be able to stir it in minutes. The “most difficult” part is peeling and chopping the apples. 🙂 A super recipe to bake with children as well! Really, so good and easy, I've baked it three times during the past 3 or 4 weeks...

What do you need?

Dry ingredients:

Flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of salt. For a spicy apple cake add not only cinnamon, but also ½ teaspoon allspice, ¼ ground ginger, and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg. Delicious!
You could replace the white sugar (all or just half of it) with light brown sugar, it changes the flavor of the cake slightly.

Wet ingredients:

Nut milk of choice, I use either almond or oat milk most of the time.
One teaspoon cider vinegar and one teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
Sunflower or canola oil, a neutral-tasting kind of oil.

Apples:

Preferably a firm, sweet-sour sort like Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Gala, Braeburn or similar.

How to make a vegan apple cake?

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare your baking tin. I use a 24 cm/ 9.5 inches springform. This is one of the standard sizes in Germany, but if your tin is slightly larger or smaller it will not matter that much. You can use a rectangular or square tin of a similar size as well.
Peel the apples cut them into cubes. Mix well with 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice, so that they don't get brown. Set aside. (1)
Mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. (2)
Mix together the nut milk, vinegar, vanilla, and oil in a small jug or bowl.
Gradually whisk the wet ingredients into the dry. (3)
Fold in the apples. And anything else that you would like to add (see Tips). (4)
Pour the batter into the lined springform. (5)
Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Let rest in the tin for about 10 minutes. Remove and let cool completely on a wire rack. (6)

chopped apples, batter in a pan and cooked cake on a rack

Tips

Use a digital kitchen scale (Amazon affiliate link) to weigh the dry ingredients, especially the flour. Sugar is rather easy, but measuring flour in a cup is always tricky.
You don't necessarily need an electric mixer to stir the ingredients, a simple whisk will be just fine, there's not a lot of stirring involved.
You could add about ½ cup chopped walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, or even chocolate chips to the vegan apple cake. Fold them in together with the fruit.

How to serve?

I was talking about letting the cake cool on a wire rack before serving, but you can serve it lukewarm as well. If serving warm I like to have some ice cream on top (choose a vegan sort to keep this vegan).

When serving cooled, sprinkle it with some icing sugar. For a more decadent version, try this vegan coconut cream.

How to keep?

It keeps well for several days. You can keep it for about 2 days on the counter, in a container, or wrapped well. When stored in the refrigerator, it will keep for about 4-5 days.

You can also freeze the leftovers, wrapped well and in airtight containers, for up to 3 months.