Deliciously sweet and easy healthier apple crumb cake that is undetectably vegan and gluten free! Layered with a cinnamon crumble and fresh apples, it’s the perfect fall breakfast or snack!
My favorite healthier fall breakfast recipe
I know your favorite apple dessert is probably the ever so classic apple pie, but hear me out.
This healthy version of an apple crumb cake had my entire family’s jaws on the floor. And all of my friends. And myself (as I triple checked that I did indeed use gluten free and vegan ingredients ha!).
It’s the deliciously sweet vanilla cake, layered with freshly chopped cinnamon coated apples, and sprinkled with a gluten free cinnamon crumble on top.
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 coconut milk ice cream 🙂
Vegan cinnamon apple crumble cake ingredients
Another reason why I love this cinnamon apple crumb cake is that it’s made with really simple ingredients.
Yes, this cake is both gluten free and vegan, but with the ratio and combination of healthy ingredients below, you’d never be able to tell! It’ll be our little secret when your taste testers give this cake a whirl 😉 And, not to mention, a much welcomed treat after all of that tedious apple picking!
The ingredients you’ll need for this gluten free apple cake are:
- Gluten free 1:1 baking flour: with this being a 1:1 gluten free apple cake, however, you can swap in regular flour if you don’t need this to be gluten free!
- Apples
- Cinnamon
- Dairy free milk with apple cider vinegar: this creates a vegan buttermilk key for making vegan baked goods
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Vegan butter: however, you can swap in regular butter or coconut oil… it might have a slight coconut flavor though!
- Coconut sugar
- Vanilla
And that’s it! Pretty simple, right? Trust me, you are going to love this fall treat!
Now let’s go over how to turn those apples you just picked into a delicious and healthy apple cake!
How to make a vegan apple crumb cake
Making a gluten free apple cake isn’t as scary as it sounds, and it’s actually quite easy to make it taste like it’s gluten counterpart.
Start by making the crumb cake base: whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then add in the wet. Fold together all of the ingredients, then pour the batter into a 13×9″ sheet pan lined with parchment paper
Then chop the apples and toss them with a bit of cinnamon. Sprinkle the apples on top of the vegan crumble cake base layer.
Make the cinnamon streusel topping by whisking together the vegan butter, coconut sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Sprinkle the streusel on top of the apples and bake!
Slice, serve, and enjoy 🙂
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 Paleo vegan caramel sauce for a fun twist on caramel apples!
Tips for the best healthy apple crumb cake
These tips, while they apply to this healthy apple cake, can be used across all fun and festive apple desserts 🙂 And if this doesn’t hint to the type of fall we’ll be having, then I don’t know what will (you can expect a lot of apple from me 🙂 ).
So what can you do to make your healthy 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 apple dessert, 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.
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!
More healthy vegan apple recipes:
Vegan Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon Bread
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Apple Crumb Cake
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 35
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 15 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Deliciously sweet and easy healthier apple crumb cake that is undetectably vegan and gluten free! Layered with a cinnamon crumble and fresh apples, it’s the perfect fall treat!
Ingredients
Crumb Topping:
- 1 1/2 cups 1:1 gluten free baking flour, or regular flour
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, melted
Cake:
- 2 1/2 cups 1:1 gluten free baking flour, or regular flour
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup vegan butter, melted
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 3/4 cup light coconut milk or dairy free milk
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp + 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups chopped apples, skinned (about 3–4 large apples)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F and line a 9″x13″ sheet cake pan (or smaller) with parchment paper.
- Prepare the crumble first. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, coconut sugar and cinnamon.
- Pour in melted vegan butter, and mix together until it resembles a wet crumble. Set aside while preparing the cake.
- Add apple cider vinegar to the dairy free milk and let sit while preparing the dry ingredients for the cake.
- Toss the chopped apples in a large bowl with 2 tsp cinnamon.
- To prepare the cake, use a large bowl and whisk together the flour, coconut sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and 1 tsp cinnamon.
- Add in the applesauce, melted vegan butter, dairy free milk and apple cider vinegar mixture, and vanilla, and mix together until there are no clumps left.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan.
- Add the chopped apples on top of the cake to create the middle layer.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon crumble evenly over the cake until all the apple is covered.
- Place the apple crumb cake into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes then serve!
Keywords: apple crumb cake, gluten free apple cake, vegan apple crumb cake, apple crumble cake
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!).