Get ready for fall with this delicious, dairy free apple cake. (You can also make it gluten free.) It’s the perfect make ahead dessert for Shabbat, High Holidays, brunch or any day you need a quick homemade sweet.
Just slice apples, top with cinnamon sugar and pour the batter on top. 
You can use a brownie pan or pie plate.
This easy formula is so good, why not try making it with a variety of other fruits?
Get creative! I made a version with sliced pears and rum soaked cherries as well as a cake with a combination of raspberries, blackberries and sugar.
The combination of batter and fruit creates a cake filled with a custard pie like consistency.
Hence the name, apple pie cake.
The original recipe for this amazing cake comes from Maxine Pacanowski in Sydney, Australia. Maxine is part of a cooking group called the Monday Morning Cooking Club. Â You can find her original recipe here.
However, when I realized that a piece of Maxine’s apple cake was 325 calories and 36 grams of fat, I decided to lighten the recipe and make serving sizes smaller.
The result is a cake with a third less calories and fat but all of the flavor of the original recipe.
Be sure to check out the nutrition label underneath the recipe below. Whether you make Maxine’s original cake or my “lightened up” version, put this apple pie cake on your must make list.
Cool cake completely in the pan and refrigerate before  cutting for easier, even slices. Serve warm or at room  temperature with extra cinnamon sugar and non dairy topping, if desired.
Dig in to Apple Pie Cake, a light and easy dairy free cake for beginners and seasoned bakers!
PrintApple Pie Cake
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Australian
A cake that thinks it’s a pie! Use a brownie tin or pie plate. Get creative with fruit and substitute pears and rum soaked cherries or a mix of berries.
Ingredients
- 4 medium apples, mix of granny smith, braeburn and jazz (peeled, cored and sliced)
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar*
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup extra fine sugar (230 gm)
- 1 cup light olive or canola oil (250 gm)
- 1 cup AP flour or gluten free flour mix (150 gm)
- extra cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling
- Variations: Pear Cherry Pie Cake: 4 peeled, sliced pears + 1/2 cup dried cherries soaked in 2 oz rum or juice.
- Berry Pie Cake: 2 pints mixed raspberries, blueberries & blackberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease and line the base and sides of an 8 x 8 inch cake tin or use a glass or metal deep dish pie plate.
- Cut apples into 12-16 pieces each. Place layers of apple slices in prepared pan so they come about two-thirds of the way up the side. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over apples.
- Use a standing or hand held mixer or whisk to beat eggs, vanilla and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add oil and beat until combined. Switch to a rubber spatula and gently stir in flour using as few strokes (about 30) as possible, just until the last bits of flour dissapear. Pour half the batter on top of the apples, let it settle into the fruit and then pour in the remaining batter. Sprinkle top with (1 T or more) cinnamon sugar.
- Place cake in the oven and turn temperature down to 350 F. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let cool.
- Refrigerate before slicing. (It’s easier to cut into 16 slices.)
- Serve warm or at room temperature with non dairy whipped topping or ice cream.
- Note: Make your own cinnamon sugar by mixing 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon with 1 cup superfine sugar.
- Variations: Add a tablespoon plain or cinnamon sugar to other fruits before pouring on batter.
Your photography is beautiful!!!!
Thank you Jenny and thanks for reading.
Hope you will try this easy, yummy recipe.
Hi!
I need this to serve more people. Do you think it would work doubled in a 9×13? And since it’ll be my son’s birthday cake, how do you think it would taste with a light frosting?
Thank you!
Hi Sara,
Yes I think that could work.
Frosting OR ice cream on the side or both!
Let me know how it works out!
Happy Birthday ? to your son!
Thank you very much!