Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crunch Cake! It's filled with real apples, cinnamon, oat flour, brown rice flour, and coconut sugar. Gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, and refined sugar-free. The one thing it isn't free of is taste and delicious texture.
My mom made an apple cake that was to die for. It was perfect. It wasn’t dry or wet, it wasn’t too sweet, or too bland, it had just the right amount of cinnamon, and the crumble topping was almost like a praline. Like I said, it was perfect. It’s been a long time since I’ve had that cake, so I thought it was time to make a vegan version—with a twist—and share it with all of you.
The twist was making it gluten-free. As you long time readers know, I don’t follow the GF trend. Read this. I don’t have an issue with gluten, so most of my baked goods are made with all-purpose flour, but since I was using oat flour in this cake, I thought, why not be a little adventurous and substitute the wheat flour that I was going to use with brown rice flour. It was risky, but that’s me, always looking for trouble. 😉
That risk resulted in a big reward, because this gluten-free apple crumble cake turned out so well. Like my mom’s apple cake, it was nice and dense, but not too wet. And thankfully, it wasn’t too dry. That can be a real issue with gluten-free baked goods. There are big pieces of apple, a wonderful cinnamon flavor, and a crunchy crumble topping in every delicious bite.
How to Make a Homemade Apple Cinnamon Cake
It’s really pretty easy. Just follow these steps:
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
Whisk the wet ingredients together in a large measuring cup.
Core and peel the apples, then dice them.
Stir the wet and dry ingredients together until they’re combined.
Add the apples and fold into the batter until their fully coated.
Scrape the batter into a 9 x 9 (23 x 23 cm) square pan.
Mix up the topping and evenly spread it over the cake batter.
Bake for 55 to 60 minutes.
Enjoy!
This is a healthier apple crumble cake than the one I grew up eating. Granted, it has sugar (coconut sugar) in it, and I’m not one-hundred percent that coconut sugar is really any better for you than regular sugar, but this doesn’t have dairy or eggs, and the brown rice flour has more going for it than all-purpose flour, so overall, I have to say that this is a better option.
Make this cake and eat it for breakfast, or have it with tea in the afternoon, and of course, you’re going to want a slice after dinner. Let me know how you like it.
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Vegan Apple Cinnamon Crunch Cake (Gluten-free)
Equipment
- 1 mixer
- 1 cake pan
- 1 Oven
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups oat flour
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ¼ cup packed coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
- ½ teaspoon finely ground sea salt
- 1 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 flax egg 1 tablespoon [5 g] ground flax seed plus 3 tablespoon [45 ml] water, whisked until combined
Wet Ingredients
- ¾ cup almond milk
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 cups diced or sliced apple, approximately 2 large apples
For the Crumble Topping
- 1 cup oat flour
- ¼ cup brown rice flour
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- 8 tablespoon vegan butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon finely ground sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° (177 °c) and grease a 9 x inch (23 x 23 cm) square cake pan
- Make the flax egg and let it sit while you prepare the dry and wet ingredients.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients until fully combined.
- Whisk the almond milk, vanilla, maple syrup, and lemon juice together until fully combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients and the flax egg into the dry and stir until just combined. Add the apple slices and stir until they’re fully coated. Pour into the cake pan and make sure it’s spread out evenly in the pan.
- In a medium bowl, combine the crumble topping ingredients. It will look more like a paste than crumbly. Evenly drop it by the spoonful over the top. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Zahava Fisch says
can I substitute the vegan butter for something else? something more healthy?
Linda Meyer says
We haven't tried it, but you could try coconut oil; however, that has saturated fat, unlike most vegan butter brands.
Sandra says
This looks so good! We have so many apples that came in our produce box this week, and my husband recently went vegan so I am excited to try this!
Question - how would you store this? In the fridge or at room temp? And can I make it the day before a family gathering or should it be served day of?
Linda Meyer says
Hi Sandra, sorry to answer so late. Alex and I both took a long weekend off and are just getting back to work. I would store it in the refrigerator because the apples make the cake a little wetter than most, and it will help it from getting too heavy. You can certainly make it the day before. Enjoy!
Christine @ Run Plant Based says
Yum, this looks wonderful! I love having a little crunch in cakes, so it sounds amazing. Thanks!
Linda Meyer says
Thank you, Christine!
Vicky Cristina says
I like all crunchy dishes. This dish looks really attractive and yummy. I can't wait for tomorrow to try this recipe
Linda Meyer says
Thank you, Vicky! Let me know what you think. 🙂