Moist Vegan Apple Crumb Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
This deliciously moist and tender vegan apple crumb cake features a layer of the easiest vanilla cake with a layer dairy free brown sugar cream cheese, caramelized cinnamon apples, and a crunchy cinnamon topping! The best fall coffee cake of the season!
The only apple crumb cake recipe you need:
I know your favorite apple dessert is probably the ever so classic apple pie (or maybe it’s this vegan apple crisp!), but hear me out.
This healthier version of an apple crumb cake had my entire family’s jaws on the floor. And all of my friends. And, quite frankly, myself (which is saying something, since I filled an entire cookbook with over 110 vegan and gluten free desserts…so I have a bit of a sweet tooth, and when I love something, you know it’s good!).
It’s as delicious as my vegan coffee cake recipe, and like my blueberry lemon crumb cake and banana cream cheese crumb cake!), we have a swirl of brown sugar cream cheese filling throughout!
Honestly, this apple crumb cake may even deserve a spot on your Thanksgiving table (for breakfast or as a dessert! Check out some more vegan Thanksgiving recipes here!).
I mean, what could be better?! It’s a bite of spicy and sweet gooey fall deliciousness with every forkful.
And, not to mention, it’s easy, quick, and goes perfectly with a cup of coffee or a scoop dairy-free milk ice cream 🙂
Ingredients:
As I mentioned above, why you’ll love this cinnamon apple crumb cake is that it’s made with really simple ingredients.
Yes, this crumb cake is vegan, but with the ratio and combination of ingredients below, you’d never be able to tell.
And, not to mention, this vegan apple crumb cake is a much welcomed treat after all of that tedious apple picking!
The ingredients you’ll need for this gluten free apple cake are:
- Flour: you can use all purpose flour or gluten free baking flour. I give recommendations below in the recipe card.
- Apples: I recommend gala or fuji apples for a sweet apple. We’re not adding any sugar to the apples, so sweet varieties are key!
- Cinnamon: you can also use a pumpkin spice blend or chai spice blend if you’d prefer!
- Dairy free milk with apple cider vinegar: this creates a vegan buttermilk key for making vegan baked goods. However, if you have an allergy to soy or nuts, you can use oat milk. I’ve done it before, and it will still work in the recipe (though the milk won’t curdle).
- Dairy free yogurt: This replaces the eggs found in traditional apple crumb cake recipes, and is my favorite vegan egg substitute for cake recipes. For more apple flavor, I love using applesauce. However, you can also swap in dairy free yogurt or vegan sour cream. Or if you’re not dairy free, some readers say that using regular dairy yogurt works as well (though I’m vegan, so I cannot attest to this!).
- Vegan butter: You can swap in coconut oil as well, and for my dairy eating readers, again, like the yogurt, regular butter may be able to work.
- Granulated sugar and brown sugar: You can also use just coconut sugar if you’d like for refined sugar free!
- Vegan cream cheese: You can make your own vegan cream cheese or use store bought- I like tofutti or Kite Hill.
- Vanilla extract: for flavor!
Overview: How to make this vegan apple crumb cake with cream cheese filling
Making a secretly vegan apple crumb cake isn’t as complicated as it sounds.
It’s actually quite easy to make, and it truly will taste just like its more traditional counterpart.
Start by making the cinnamon streusel topping by whisking together the vegan butter, sugar, flour, and cinnamon.
Then chop the apples and toss them with a bit of cinnamon. Sprinkle the apples on top of the vegan crumble cake base layer. Next, we’ll make the cream cheese filling by creaming together the vegan cream cheese, brown sugar, and cornstarch.
Making the crumb cake base: Finally, we’ll whisk together all of the wet ingredients for the batter, followed by the dry and we’ll be ready to assemble!
To assemble:
Spoon half of the batter into the base of the pan, followed by the cream cheese filling and the remaining cake batter. Then top with the cinnamon apples and crumble topping. Bake, and serve!
Icing options:
If you like your apple crumble cake with an icing on top, there’s absolutely an option for that!
I recommend my simple glaze that I use for my gooey vegan cinnamon rolls. It’s so easy and comes together in 1 minute.
For a tangier twist, try my vegan cream cheese frosting glaze that’s used on my vegan pumpkin cinnamon rolls.
And for a really fall treat, try my vegan caramel sauce for a fun twist on caramel apples!
Tips for this apple crumb cake recipe:
These tips, while they apply to this vegan apple crumb cake, can be used across all fun and festive apple desserts.
So what can you do to make your homemade apple crumb cake out of the park?
- For a sweeter cake, use gala or pink lady apples. I know everyone says granny smith, and nothing against the green apple, but I personally love a very sweet apple cake. So most of the time, I recommend gala, even for apple pie! Golden delicious is also wonderful, however, if you do like the more tart flavors, go for a granny smith or pink lady!
- The type of cinnamon you use matters! Saigon cinnamon tends to be sweet, but bold in spice and flavor, while Ceylon cinnamon is more sweet and light.
- Serve warm or cold: Personally, I love this apple crumb cake, and really any appledessert, warm or chilled! If you’re serving it warm though, I highly recommend a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream on top, and if serving cold, enjoy with a cup of hot coffee.
- What to serve your cake with: a drizzle of homemade vegan icing (such as this one from my vegan cinnamon rolls) or drizzle a little homemade Paleo vegan caramel sauce on top for a vegan caramel apple twist.
How do you store apple crumb cake?
This gluten free vegan apple crumb cake will actually still stay moist at room temperature for up to 2 days when stored in an airtight container or bag. You can also refrigerate the apple crumb cake for up to 5 days in the refrigerator, or up to 3 months in the freezer.
Don’t you just love fall?! Ugh this recipe is SO getting me in the mood! I hope you love this easy apple crumb cake as much as I do!
If you give it a go, let me know in the comments below, and of course, I’d absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Pinterest and Instagram, so be sure to tag me there 🙂
Happy baking!
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Moist Vegan Apple Crumb Cake with Cream Cheese Filling
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 80
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This deliciously moist and tender apple crumb cake features a layer of the easiest vanilla cake with a layer dairy free brown sugar cream cheese, caramelized cinnamon apples, and a crunchy cinnamon topping! The best fall coffee cake of the season!
Ingredients
Cinnamon Crumble Topping:
- 1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour*
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 5 tbsp (70 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
Cream cheese filling:
- 8 ounces vegan cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Apple filling:
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon or pumpkin spice blend
- 2 cups chopped apples, skin removed (about 2 large apples)
Vanilla Cake Layer:
- 3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour*
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot starch*
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/4 cup (250 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (113 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled
- 3/4 cup (170 g) dairy free yogurt or unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
- 2/3 cup (180 g) vegan buttermilk, room temperature
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- Optional topping: 1 cup powdered sugar with 1 tbsp dairy free milk
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F and lightly grease and line a 9″ or 10″ springform pan with parchment paper.
- Cinnamon crumble topping: In medium bowl, prepare the cinnamon crumble. Whisk together the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Use a fork to mix in the melted vegan butter into the mixture until it resembles a crumble. Set aside.
- Make the apple filling: In another medium bowl, toss the chopped apples with the ground cinnamon. Set aside.
- Make the cream cheese filling: In a separate bowl, cream together the vegan cream cheese, brown sugar, and cornstarch until fluffy and consistently smooth. Then set aside. You’ll be assembling the cake in layers.
- Make the vegan cake batter: Prepare the main cake layer. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted vegan butter, sugar, dairy free yogurt, and vanilla. Then add in the salt, baking powder, and baking soda and whisk to combined. Then add in the flour, along with the vegan buttermilk, whisking just until the flour is fully incorporated.
- Assemble the apple crumb cake: Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared pan, and spread the batter to touch the edges of the pan. Then spoon in the cream cheese filling, and use an offset spatula to spread the cream cheese to the edges of the pan, followed by the remainder of the cake batter (spreading once more until the edges of the pan. Then add on the apples, and spread them out in an even layer on top of the cake batter. Finally, sprinkle the crumble topping on top evenly over the apples.
- Bake: Place the pan into the oven to bake for 75-85 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean. It’s a LONG bake with this one, but don’t worry- everything still stays moist. If your crumble top is starting to brown too fast (happens with some ovens if your top rack is very close to top), cover the cake with tinfoil. Remove from the oven, and allow the coffee cake to cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes.
- Serve: When ready to serve, it’s best served slightly warm. Drizzle with the powdered sugar glaze if desired, and slice. Enjoy! Store any leftovers covered in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, in the fridge for up to 6 days, or in the freezer for up to a month.
Notes
Gluten free flour: I recommend using King Arthur Measure for Measure flour here (as pictured). You can also use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 baking flour.
Arrowroot in the cake: This is optional, but can make a softer cake- your cake will still be soft without it, but the flour will feel more like cake flour then! You would whisk it into the flour before adding the flour into the wet ingredients.
Not gluten free? Swap in all purpose flour in an equal amount.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 square
- Calories: 303
- Sugar: 28.8 g
- Sodium: 230.7 mg
- Fat: 6.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 57.7 g
- Fiber: 2.6 g
- Protein: 3.8 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Wow you really did give apple pie a run for its money. These are just amazing! The perfect fall treat 🙂
Yessss so happy to hear!! Enjoy!
Okay, YUM! I was not prepared for how good these were. The combination of the soft and springy cake with the sugary, crunchy crumble topping is amazing, and with the cinnamon apples tucked in between.. absolutely heavenly. Bring on fall, STAT!
I made a small batch of these bars by cutting all the ingredients by a factor of 3 and baking it in a loaf tin for the same amount of time as listed in the recipe, and it worked perfectly! But I think next time I’ll have to make a full batch because this little one will be gone in two days 😂. Since I don’t have vegan butter, I used peanut butter (plus a bit of water) for the crumble and yogurt for the cake instead. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Oh my goodness!! This is the sweetest message!! truly thank you so much!! So glad that you loved them!! Also I bet the peanut butter tasted AMAZING with the apples!!
This has been on my to-bake list for weeks and finally made it last night. This is SO good and satisfying! Wondering if you can replace the applesauce with maple syrup though? Someone just gave me a HUGE bottle of fresh, real maple syrup and I’m trying to figure out how I can use it. Thanks for this great recipe!
Aw my goodness!! So lovely to hear!! Hmm for replacing applesauce, maple syrup doesn’t quite lock in the moisture that applesauce does! However, you can safely add some maple syrup to the crumble topping (about 1-2 tbsp) and still get that maple taste! That’s an awesome gift though, that’s so sweet!!
Thinking of making this over the weekend. I’m wondering about the apples, though, specifically: I’ve heard apples release a ton of moisture in the baking process, and need to be pre-cooked before adding to the bake. Should the apples in this recipe be pre-cooked, why or why not? Thanks!
Hi Sarah! No need to cool the apples here 🙂 This is because we need to add moisture into the cake, since we’re not using any eggs! Don’t worry- it will all balance out!
I finally found a coffee cake with perfectly soft and fluffy texture. It’s not overly sweet or dense like most coffee cakes.
I was wondering how long will this last at room temperature if covered tightly?
Thank you!
Aw I’m jus so happy to hear this!! Enjoy!! For room temperature, it should last about 3-4 days, depending on how warm/humid your kitchen is (I just moved to FL so I’m learning everything is warmer which means it won’t last as long ha!).
Update: it was done after about 55minutes-1hr. Came out good; moist. With the amount of work though, I’ll probably make an apple crisp next time instead. I think it took me about 45minutes to get it in the oven.
I don’t have coconut sugar and will replace with cane sugar — do you think I should adjust the amount of sugar or leave as is? Thanks. Can’t wait to try this!
Hi Denise! Yes you can replace with cane sugar! If you’re seeking strictly vegan cane sugar, make sure that it’s organic! Enjoy!
this looks yummy and i love apples and fall but it is still summer here. Do you think i could use peaches or blueberries instead?
Absolutely!! I think it would be just wonderful with sliced peaches or blueberries! Any stone fruit or berry!
Baked for 55 min in an 8×8″ pan (as directed in the recipe) and the middle square came out quite underbaked on top. Will try 13×9″ (as directed in the preceding written section) next time. Flavor and textures were great, will be making it again.
You give 2 directions on size of pan. Is it 9×13 or 8×8?
Hi Jeanne! So sorry! So you can use a 9×13 if you want to make a longer cake, or you can use a 9×9. I just corrected it. I hope that helps!
That looks so good. I have everything on hand but the arrowroot—is there something I can substitute? Thanks!
Oh yes so sorry for the confusion! You can sub in cornstarch as well there, or you can leave it out entirely for the cake batter portion (but still use it in the cream cheese portion!). I just made a note of that, I’m so sorry I left that out! Enjoy though 🙂
Hi! This cake looks amazing, thank you for this recipe. I was wondering if the arrowroot starch is added in with the flour? Also, is there a good possible sub for that ingredient, it’s the only thing I don’t have. Thank you SO much.
Oh yes!! You can sub in cornstarch in the flour portion, or you can leave it out entirely for the cake batter portion (but still use cornstarch in the cream cheese portion!). I just made a note of that, I’m so sorry I left that out! Enjoy though 🙂
Can this be made using the dairy items instead of vegan substitutes? My son has an egg allergy so always on the hunt for eggless recipes, especially where cakes are concerned, but he can have dairy. Don’t want to ruin the recipe if it won’t work that way!
Hi Jenna! So I personally haven’t tried the recipe with regular dairy products- BUT many readers who are similar and have an egg allergy will swap in regular dairy products for the non-dairy alternatives, and it works for them! I can’t guarantee anything, as I haven’t personally tried it BUT anecdotally, it can work!
I don’t do great with soy and am wondering if the Kite Hill cream cheese is a reasonable substitute and would bake well in this cake–or any other vegan cream cheese?
Yes, kite hill will work!
This looks great! Can I leave out the cream cheese layer? Not a big cream cheese person.
Yes absolutely!
Hi! I have a 8″ pan. Should I bake the cake longer (and how long?) or make the batter smaller?
Hi! The cake would definitely need to bake longer, but you’ll also need to cover the crumb to prevent it from burning. I found it was such a long bake (like 90 minutes) that it didn’t make sense, so I thought 9″ was better. You can also reduce the recipe by 2/3 if you want to do the 8″, and it will bake in about the same time!
I made this cake today in a loaf pan and made a little bit less than half the recipe, and it turned out delicious! I used organic white whole wheat flour and date sugar and they worked great! Thanks for sharing this recipe 🥰
Heyy.. So i really want to make these, but do you think i can make this cake into muffins?? And how long should I bake them then??
Oh absolutely!! I know a few readers have tried my cream cheese coffee cakes like that with success! They’ve baked them at about 18-20 minutes, but if you’re doing larger muffins, then they’ll need longer!
Okay thank you so much!!
Have you ever tried this with oat flour and, if not, do you think it would work?
Oh I haven’t, I’m so sorry! It might work, but it might also be super delicate. You would need to use the gram measurements and not the cup measurements (to make sure you’re getting enough flour!).