Vegan Apple Cake

In this post:

And some notes on a few of the key ingredients:

• Sugar - Important for flavour, structure, leavening and sweetness in a cake. I used organic cane sugar but white granulated will be fine, as will brown sugar. Bear in mind though that using brown sugar will change the colour and flavour of the cake. A really course sugar like turbinado is great to sprinkle on the top for texture. I see people reducing the sugar in baked goods a lot but know that if you do it will affect the flavour, crumb and appearance of the cake and you won't get the best result.
• Vegan yogurt - For moisture, tenderness and a slightly tighter crumb than more delicate cakes so that it can hold those apple chunks tight. Any plain or vanilla store bought vegan yogurt is fine or use my vegan yogurt recipe.
• Oil - Some fat is necessary. It is what produces a soft, cake-y crumb. It also acts as a preservative. If you eat/bake oil-free you can replace the oil with the same amount of drippy nut-butter. Cashew butter gives the least nutty and most buttery flavour. Be sure to blend it with the milk before adding though so that it incorporates fully. The texture won't be quite as good as it is with oil but you will still get a good result.
• Flaked Almonds - Totally optional and only for sprinkling on the top prior to baking. They add lovely texture and nuttiness and makes it look really pretty too. You can omit them if you need the cake to be nut-free.

Ok, let's get down to how to make this beauty of a cake:

1. Mix the flour and spices together in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients and the sugar together really well. Partially dissolving the sugar in the liquid before adding it to the flour helps inhibit gluten formation which will make your cake more tender and soft.
3. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients to form a thick batter.
4. Add the apple to the bowl and fold it through the batter.

1. Follow the recipe closely and as always with recipes involving flour, I highly recommend that you use a kitchen scale. Cup measurements are not accurate enough to get the best and consistent results. If you do need to use cups, spoon the flour into the cup then level off the top with a knife without compacting it or shaking it down. Do not scoop the flour up into the cup as you will end up with much more than intended and it will affect the outcome of the recipe.
2. Don't over mix the batter. As with all cakes, the more you mix, the more you activate the gluten in the flour which really affects the texture and rise of the finished cake.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients separately as instructed, before adding them all together. This helps avoid over-mixing.
4. I recommend the use of a springform cake pan for this recipe as inverting it could damage it. Or use a 9 x 13inch pan that the cake can stay in for serving.
5. Don’t turn the cake out of the pan too soon. With all of the apple chunks, it will be fragile and fall apart easily while it's hot.

• Omit the flaked almonds on top to make the recipe nut-free.
• Add a generous amount of vegan streusel to the top of the cake before baking instead of the sugary almond topping.
• Omit the almond and sugar topping and once cool add a layer of very decadent vegan cream cheese frosting.
• Add a big handful of golden raisins or chopped nuts to the batter at the same time as adding the chopped apple
• Add a couple tablespoons of dark rum to the batter but reduce the amount of milk you use to compensate. Stir it into the other liquids before mixing them with the dry ingredients.
• Add some stem ginger or ground ginger with the other spices.

If you try this recipe, let me know how you like it by leaving a comment and rating below! And be sure to join my mailing list for more deliciousness!

This recipe was originally published on September 27th, 2019. I've since rewritten the post and now I am republishing it for you. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for following A Virtual Vegan!