Spiced apples and a sweet coconut cream vegan frosting are the perfect components to this apple spice cake. It’s the ultimate fall cake!
I made this apple spice cake last week in anticipation of the fall weather that’s on the horizon and chill that would be in the air soon, but today it was in the 80’s here, so what gives? Regardless of the crazy temperatures, I spied apples at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago, so I knew it was time to cross an apple cake recipe off my list of recipes. Apple spice cake has been a recipe that I’ve been wanting to make for a few seasons now, but just hadn’t gotten around to it yet since most of the fall season recipes get overshadowed by all things pumpkin and not enough apple!
I took this vegan apple cake into work last week, wanting to get it out of the house (I had already eaten two pieces in one sitting) and knew it was about time to share with my co-workers, since there is only so much cake my fiance and I can feasibly eat (by the way, if you are in the Milwaukee area, I’m always willing to share!). Between the apple spice cake and sweet coconut cream frosting, this was deemed ‘the best thing I’ve made yet’ by co-workers, so I would say it’s a crowd pleaser, without a doubt.
Tips for Making This Apple Spice Cake
This vegan apple cake doesn’t require any fancy ingredients and there are no special steps. However, there are a few key things you need to do to make sure your cake turns out perfectly every time. First, you need to chill the coconut cream for at least four hours to help it firm up properly. If you don’t chill the cream, you won’t be able to make the vegan frosting, which would be a crying shame. And on the note of coconut cream, I would recommend looking for the full fat cans labeled ‘coconut cream’ as opposed to just the full fat coconut milk. I’ve had a lot of duds lately with the full-fat coconut milk, so I’ve been sticking with the small cans of coconut cream to make frosting.
Second, the first thing you should do before you begin prepping the cake batter is make your flax seed egg. Flax eggs only need about five minutes to gel up, but your batter will come together quickly and you do not want to just throw the ground flax seed and water into the bowl. A flax egg will not magically appear this way (trust me, I’ve tried).
And finally, if you are into cupcakes, this apple cake recipe would bake up nicely into cupcakes too! I preferred a single layer cake, since sometimes it’s just so satisfying to slice a cake into wedges and smother it with a healthy dose of frosting. I highly recommend using freshly grated nutmeg for the batter and to top the cake a bit after frosting. For the longest time, I didn’t use freshly grated nutmeg, but once I started, I never looked back.
Previous Apple Desserts on Heart of a Baker:
- Caramel Vegan Apple Crisp
- Vegan Dutch Baby with Caramelized Apples and Pears
- Apple and Peach Jam Pie Bars
- Maple Vegan Apple Cider Caramels
- Caramel Apple Dumplings
Apple Spice Cake with Coconut Cream Frosting
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 70 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Spiced apples and a sweet coconut cream vegan frosting are the perfect components to this apple spice cake. It’s the ultimate fall cake!
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seed (combined with 3 tablespoons warm water)
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 peeled and diced apples (I used Macintosh)
- 1/3 cup chopped nuts (I used a mixture of pecans, almonds and hazelnuts)
For the frosting:
- 2 small cans coconut cream (5.4 oz. each, refrigerated overnight)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- First, make sure you have placed your cans of coconut cream in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. This will ensure that the coconut cream gets solid before whipping it into the frosting.
- To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a single 8-inch round cake pan and set aside. Make sure your ground flax seed is combined with the water and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, granulated sugar, ground flax seed ‘egg’, almond milk and vinegar. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Add in the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Fold in the diced apples and nuts with a spatula. Don’t overmix the batter, or it will be tough!
- Spread the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake fore 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middles comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting.
- To make the frosting: In a large bowl, place the coconut cream (just the solid part, make sure you drain off any liquid!), powdered sugar, and vanilla together. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Store in fridge until ready to be used to frost the cake.
- Store the frosted cake, covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Keywords: apple spice cake, vegan apple cake
Julia says
It’s been pretty toasty here, too, but I’ve been allll about fall cooking and baking nonetheless. This cake looks absolutely amazing! So inviting with the warm spices and that coconut milk frosting looks like perfection!
The Frosted Vegan says
Yeah yeah! I’m still going to bake, even if it’s a milllllion degrees!
whiskandshout says
This looks fabulous! And no amount of warm weather can divert me from fall baking 🙂 Pinning!
The Frosted Vegan says
I’m glad you are right there with me!
Tessa | Salted Plains says
Ok, this just made me excited for fall! I’ve had a lot of coconut milk duds lately as well, so your tip to use coconut cream is so smart. I cannot wait to make a gf version of this!
The Frosted Vegan says
Yes yes! I really need to expand into gf baking, so when we meet at Chopped (!!), we should brainstorm and you can teach me alllll the things!
Noelle Gardiner says
To make a gf version, did you just use 1 cup of all purpose gf flour? Thank you, cant wait to make this for Christmas 🙂
Heart of a Baker says
Yep, that would totally work!
Erica says
Beautiful!!! And I totally agree about the apple season – I just made an apple cake too and I love that yours has coconut frosting! Delicious 🙂
The Frosted Vegan says
Thanks Erica! To me, the frosting is really what made it 🙂
Sarah | Well and Full says
Oh my. Be still my heart. Spice cake is my FAVORITE 😀 😀
The Frosted Vegan says
YES! It’s just fall in a cake, right?! 🙂
Heartbeet Kitchen (@amanda_paa) says
i so wish that i was your coworker! i would gladly share a slice with you. i see our fall minds are on the same wavelength – apple cake #FTW! also, i have not had much luck with full fat coconut milk for whipping and find that coconut cream is always better consistency. xo
The Frosted Vegan says
I wish you were too Amanda! A lot of times if I don’t bring what I’ve made into work, my co-workers will say ‘Um where is this?!’ haha! A lot of the coconut milk brands are including guar gum now, which makes it so they don’t solidify in the fridge 🙁
Tracy | Pale Yellow says
This looks great! I can’t wait to go apple picking!
The Frosted Vegan says
Agreed, one of my top favorite things about fall!
shannon says
You have cider vinegar in the ingredient list but don’t say where to add it. Does it go in with the liquid ingredients? I hope it’s only for flavor because I missed adding it!
The Frosted Vegan says
Hi Shannon! I’m so sorry for the delay in responding! It’s part for flavor and part for leavening, so I hope it turned out. I will fix the recipe now!
Kay says
This cake looks great! I love apple baked goods, so this will be the perfect thing to make for a fall meeting coming up, which leads to my first question. Would a doubled recipe make a 9×13 cake? Also, where does the vinegar get added into the recipe?
Heart of a Baker says
Hi Kay! Yes, I believe if you doubled it it would make a perfect 9×13 cake! I updated the recipe, the vinegar goes in with the almond milk!
Carol Malott says
My husband and I LOVE this recipe! I have made it 4 or 5 times already! Thanks!
Heart of a Baker says
That makes me so happy to hear!