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1 Bowl Vegan Apple Cake with Cinnamon Custard. Easy Apple Cake that is soft and light. Served with a creamy vegan vanilla custard. Soyfree Recipe. Nut-free Gluten-free Options.
You all love my simple cakes. Hereās another simple Apple cake that is served with a vanilla custard! I like lighter cakes during spring and summer and this lightly sweet custard is perfect accompaniment with the cake. No loads of sugar to make an iciing. The Custard adds the right amount of moisture, flavor and texture combination with this cake.
This Vegan Apple Cake is simple vanilla cake batter with some cinnamon and apples mixed in. The batter is topped with a little coconut sugar mixture to make a caramelized and spiced crust. Serve it warm with the creamy 5 ingredient vegan custard. Just like my popular upside down pear cake, this cake comes together really quickly and is great to serve for breakfast (add some nuts and seeds to the batter) or as dessert.
And the best part is thereās no gummy batter around the apples! The secret to the fluffiest and moist cake without the gummy batter is to toss the apples in some maple syrup before adding to the batter. This adds layer between the moisture that bakes out of the apples and the batter keeping them separate.
Ingredients for Vegan Apple Cake and substitution options
- Non dairy milk, applesauce/yogurt and oil make up the wet ingredients that add moisture to the cake. You can sub the oil with some applesauce or non dairy yogurt, see recipe ingredient list and notes for subs.
- vinegar balances the flavor and helps the baking powder work better for a fluffy result
- light brown sugar or coconut sugar as sweetener adds a nice caramelly flavor.
- vanilla, almond extract and cinnamon add a light spiced flavor to the cake.
- a mix of whole grain and all purpose flour works best for light enough texture with some whole grain. See notes on the recipe for gluten-free. You can also use a mix of almond flour and gf blend of choice, equal amounts. Gluten-free flours tend to dry out much faster, so definitely add some nut flour and top generously with coconut sugar.
- apple is finely chopped and tossed in maple syrup before mixing into the batter. This helps create a barrier between the apple and the cake and helping reduce gummyness around the fruit.
- coconut sugar sprinkled on top melts during baking making a caramel crust which works really well with the apple cake.
More Cakes
- Cinnamon Swirl Cake
- Eggnog Pound Cake
- Easy Coffee Cake ā Cinnamon Streusel CakeĀ GF option
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Marble Cake
- Applesauce spice cakeĀ Ā GF option
- Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Pumpkin Frosting. GF option
Gluten-freeĀ
- GF Cashew Butter Chocolate Marble Cake.Ā
- Gluten-free Cinnamon Roll BreadĀ yeast-free.
- GF Carrot Banana Bread ā Also grain-free.
- Sweet Potato Crumb Cake. GF
Step by Step Photos:
Mix all the wet ingredients for the cake in a bowl until well combined. Then add in the dry. When mixing, mix the dry ingredients above the wet for a few seconds and then mix in into the wet.
Toss apple in maple syrup then fold into the batter. Drop the batter into parchment lined pan and spread to even it out. Sprinkle coconut sugar and bake.
To make the custard, bring the non dairy milk to a boil with sweetener and extract/flavors. Once boiling, mix the cornstarch into the reserved cold non dairy milk until mixed and then pour into the boiling milk. Bring to a good boil and the mixture will thicken a bit. Take off heat, the custard wil feel runny, but will continue to thicken as it cools.
Slice the apple cake, drizzle generously with the custard and serve. The recipe looks long as theres custard recipe in there too. Make just the cake or just the custard or both! Takes less than 30 mins of active time.
Tips to make Vegan custard
- Mix the starch in cold milk until completely combined and then add to the boiling milk.
- Mix using a whisk to avoid lumps
- Once the mixture with the starch is boiling, take off heat. Thee custard continues to thicken as it cools
- This custard is a thinner custard for drizzling, for thicker, add 1 tsp flour(all purpose of rice flour for glutenfree) with the starch andmix in into the cold milk.
Vegan Apple Cake with Cinnamon Custard
IngredientsĀ Ā
Wet:
- 1 cup non dairy milk such as almond or soy
- 2 tbsp applesauce or non dairy yogurt, or cashew cream or more non dairy milk (applesauce or yogurt work best)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup neutral oil, or use 3 tbsp applesauce to make oil-free
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- a few drops of almond extract, , optional but wonderful
Dry:
- 1.5 to 1.75 cups of flour, (I use a mix of 1 cup Spelt flour and 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose or use 1.75 cup all purpose flour). See GF option in notes
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon, or pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 apple, chopped small
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1.5 tbsp coconut sugar
Custard:
- 1 cup + 1/4 cup non dairy milk
- 2 tbsp sugar or sweetener
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 drops almond extract
- a pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp cornstarch, or potato starch
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon, , 1/8 tsp turmeric for color (optional)
InstructionsĀ
- Line a pan with parchment with parchment hanging on the sides. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F (176 C). In a bowl, mix in the wet ingredients for the cake, until the sugar is fully combined.
- Add 1 1/2 cup flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Fold into the wet until just about combined. Add more flour if needed 1 tbsp at a time to make just slightly thick batter.
- In another bowl, drizzle maple over chopped apple and toss to coat. Add the apple to the batter and fold in.
- Pour into the parchment lined pan and even it out. Sprinkle coconut sugar over the batter
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 45 mins (depends on the pan, cake height etc). Cool for 10 mins, then remove from pan. Cool completely before slicing. Store on the counter for the day, refrigerated for upto 7 days, freeze (slices) for upto a month
- To make cupcakes/muffins: Bake for 22 to 24 mins for regular size muffins.
Custard:
- Heat 1 cup non dairy milk with the sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add cinnamon or other flavoring as needed. Add a pinch of turmeric for color.
- Mix the starch in 1/4 cup nondairy milk then add to the boiling milk. Bring to a good boil and take off heat. Custard will thicken as it cools. (See tips in the post if it doesnt thicken). Serve apple cake slices drizzled with custard
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ā
Can we use Tapioca starch/flour instead of potato starch or would corn starch work ?
Thanks
tapioca starch will work
Awesome! Tks š
Hi Richa! What can I use to replace non dairy milk? Can I just skip it?
BTW, I love your work <3
in the cake you can use water. for custard, you can use coconut milk from a can or some cashew milk(blend 1/3 cup cashews with 1.25 cups water unti smooth and use that
The cake is so moist, you donāt even know itās vegan. The flavor is light but nice. Next time I would put in more apple pieces. I tried using oat milk for the custard ā it wasnāt the best because I could mostly just taste the oat milk flavor. I would probably try normal custard (like birdās) next time. Overall, great recipe!
Awesome!! yes it doesnt need a custard, its very moist. You can pair it with anything, some ice cream, salted caramel, custard, whipped coconut cream.
Can I make the custard with dairy milk instead? Will I need to make any changes for cornstarch measurements etc?
Hey Richa,
Will the custard work with homemade cashew milk, or is this one of those times that a store-bought milk will work better?
Thanks!
yes definitely. Cashew milk would make a creamier custard. i usually like cashew milk over the store bought, i should mention that. Store bought milk just makes it quicker.
Awesome, thanks! I will make and rate this weekend šš¼šš¼
Iām sure itās going to be delish.
This came out great! Everyone really liked it and it was so simple to make. I used a richer homemade cashew milk for the custard and it started to thicken even before I added the corn starch slurry, so I might not have needed a full T of corn starch. Will try a little less next time. Also might add a pinch of black salt next time.
Awesome! Yes depending on the cashew concentration, you will need much less cornstarch as cashew milk thickens quite some on heating.
This cake is so moist and delicious. Neither my husband or I were crazy about the vanilla custard, but we both thought a crumb topping would be good. Iāll make this cake again!
Awesome! Yes you can add a crumb to the cake easily. or serve with whipped coconut cream
Thank you so much for sharing your helpful information. Itās very unique post
My custard never does thicken. I used cashew milk and cornstarch and followed the recipe exactly. Dunno what I have done wrong.
thats odd. It didnt thicken on cooling? whenthe mixture boils, it will thicken slightly, and then continue to thicken as it cools. try refrigerating. You can also use 1 tsp flour and 1 tbsp starch next time or a different kind of starch such as potato starch which is a stronger thickener.
Couldnāt find where to initiate a new comment.. Maybe itās too late. Anyway, I really liked this recipe. Iām not vegan but my daughter is. When she comes home from school I try to make a lot of vegan meals. I enjoy the challenge ā but that challenge is made much easier with really good recipes like this! Turned out perfect. Exactly like the picture. For those having issues getting the ācustardā to thicken, just do it earlier. Iād recommend anyone do the custard first and it WILL thicken over time. To me seems like it takes a good hour. And it doesnāt need to be as thick as some people seem to think. Anyway, thank you
Awesome, itās not a thick custard as it needs to be drizzleable. But you can adjust it to preference!
Amazing Recipes ā¦.. š
Thanks!
Hi Richa!
I havenāt made this recipe yet because I just this minute got it in my email. BUT, I DID get your Everyday cookbook in my mail todayā- and Iām VERY excited to use these recipesā¦looks terrific. I love your Indian bookā¦and your blog recipesā¦and also, your article in VegNewsā¦top of my list!! Thanks! Iām really a fan
Thank you so much Sandi!! I am so happy you got the book!