Grab your apron and make this heavenly vegan apple spice cake with maple buttercream! Nothing beats filling your house with the irresistible scent of warm cinnamon spice, am I right?!
Lucky for you, this recipe is super simple and your house will be smelling scrumptious in no time.
Every bite combines fresh apple, cinnamon, all-spice, ginger, molasses, and brown sugar with a fluffy and sweet maple buttercream frosting.
If that doesn't convince you to give this vegan apple spice cake a try, I don't know what will!
Honestly, you’ll be feeling quite proud of yourself after making this and the reward of eating it is even better.
You know I love my cake, cake, cake. So if you want to some more delectable ideas check out my hazelnut torte, this pumpkin spice latte pie, or my carrot cake doughnuts.
Happy baking!
vegan apple spice cake with maple buttercream
This cake is simple to make and combines fresh apple, cinnamon, all-spice, ginger, molasses, and brown sugar with a fluffy and sweet maple buttercream frosting.
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Servings:
Ingredients
apple spice cake
- 1 C soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 C all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ¾ C packed brown sugar
- ⅓ C vegetable oil or coconut oil (melted)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoon unsulphured molasses
- 1 C peeled and shredded apple
- ¾ C pecans, finely chopped
maple buttercream frosting
- 3 to 4 C powdered sugar
- 1 C vegan butter, cubed and chilled
- ¼ C maple syrup (or 2 teaspoon maple extract)
- 1 tablespoon soy milk (if using maple syrup), or 2 to 3 tablespoon soy milk (if using extract)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Prepare 2 cake pans that are between 7" to 8" wide. You can also bake one at a time if you only have 1 pan. Generously oil or butter the pans and then dust with an even layer of flour to help easily remove the cake from the pans.
- In small mixing bowl, whisk together the soy milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside to curdle for about 5 to 10 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, all-spice, ginger, and sea salt.
- Once the soy milk and vinegar has thickened, add brown sugar, oil, molasses and vanilla extract and combine until smooth.
- Add the liquid ingredients and shredded apple to the dry ingredients. Fold the batter until it’s just combined, ensuring not to over mix it. Small lumps in the batter are fine, but you shouldn't see pockets of dry ingredients that aren't incorporated.
- Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans. Spread out the batter so it’s even and to the edge of the pan.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes on the centre rack. Cake is done when a toothpick comes out mostly clean from the centre of the cake.
- Allow the cakes to cool on wire racks for 10 to 15 minutes before removing them from the cake pans. To remove the cakes, place the wire rack on top of the cake pan and flip it upside down. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting and assembling.
- To make the frosting, beat the chilled vegan butter with about ¼ cup of powdered sugar in a food processor, with a hand mixer, or in a stand mixer. Only once combined and smooth, add a bit more sugar and then add a little bit of maple syrup. Continue mixing portions of sugar and maple syrup along with the soy milk until a smooth and fluffy frosting is achieved. Be sure you don't add any liquid too soon in the process, as it can sometimes start to separate the butter.
- Place one cake bottom side down on your serving plate and spread frosting evenly with a spatula across the entire top of the cake. Place the other cake, bottom side down, on top of the frosting. Use remaining frosting to cover the entire cake.
- Using the palm of your hands, gently press small handfuls of roughly chopped pecans along the entire side of the cake until well coated. The cake is best served the same day as baking and frosting. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge or at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. If refrigerated, let cake sit at room temperature before consuming to take the chill off.
Stacey Goldblatt
Entertained last night and served this for dessert. Delicious. Moist and flavorful. Looked beautiful on a cake stand. My cake didn't have the levity of the cake you've pictured--it was more dense, which makes me wonder if I was too heavy handed in its batter stage. Others should pay heed to your instructions to "not over mix it." Thank you for another winning recipe! Thinking about having a slice with this morning's cup of coffee...
genevieve @ gratitude and greens
This sounds delicious! Makes me want a cup of hot apple cider, too 🙂
Lauren Toyota
ya those would go great together! How about our drunk uncle cocktail ;P
Laura
it is delicious! Easy to make and the house smelled so good while baking. That maple buttercream is to die for!
Stacy Hall
Looks amazing! One question though--I only have the standard 9" cake pan. So just checking to see if your pans are indeed 7.25 inches? (If so, I suppose my 9" cakes will be very thin, hehe.) Thanks! : )
Lauren Toyota
ya they'll be a little thinner. I don't know why I have that size of a pan, but I thought I better mention the size just so people are aware!
Emma Wills-Fuest
I didn't want a sandwich cake so put all of the batter into a 9" tin... safe to say, it takes MUCH more time to cook, I'm talking over an hour. It's still in the oven now! but the smell is amazing...
Emma Wills-Fuest
Okay so mine didn't cook at all... no matter how long it was left in the oven for, it is more or less caramel in the middle...I followed the recipe to a t, any idea what I might have done wrong?
Emily Elizabeth
Turned out great! I'm making this again next month for a friends birthday
Also I used almond milk instead of soy because that's all I had, and I added 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
Alejandra Talamantes Ramirez
I ended up doubling the dry ingredients on the recipe because i wanted more apple and with the liquids i thought it would end up too watery!
turned out great! also didnt make the frosting which would have been really good idea to make it to give it that sweet flavor!
all in all great recipe!
ps. I made half with it cake, and the other half into a bread tin... sliced it up and froze it!
Cathy
Hello. Can gluten-free flour be substituted? If, what other changes should be made?
Thank you!
Cathy
Franesca
Is there anything that I can use besides vegan butter for the cream?
Lauren Toyota
coconut oil will probably work... see the icing we make for the carrot cake. Similar thing
Lily
Just made this and it was amazing! One of the best vegan cakes yet ! I used almond milk instead of soy and I mixed it in a kitchen aid but I really made sure not to over mix it. Next time I would add more apple but overall and amazing cake 🙂
Tasha
This cake is amazing! It's so flavorful and the texture is perfect. My whole family loved it. Thank you! 🙂
Ryann
Do you think I could make the cakes the night before? And then ice the day of? Thank you.
Kenn
Good Apple Cake receipe. I've made this a few times and it's also very. good without any frosting or with a drizzle of vegan caramel sauce 🍎
Alice
ADORED this cake!!! Gave me so much more joy than you could ever imagined. It's a sophisticated cake, looks beautiful, and felt so accomplished for pulling it off! The only thing I slightly altered was the frosting, to which I added quite a bit of salt as I thought the syrup + powdered sugar was too sweet. The salt created a kind of salted butterscotch flavour which my baking guru aunt praised highly. Went down super well with the whole non-vegan family! So excited about this cake. Thanks Lauren + John! You're the best.
Alice
Oh also! I had only the standard 9 inch pan and so used 1.5 times all the ingredients and worked PERFECTLY! So if you can't get hold of the smaller pan size, I reccomend multiplying the ingredients by 1.5.
Christine
Oh yes. I forgot to say I added salt to the icing, too. Super good.
Christine
This was super crazy delicious. No one could believe it was vegan. For the milk I substituted home-made coco-cashew-brazilnut milk flavored with nutmeg (think: eggnog). And I brushed the cakes with whiskey before icing... and added whiskey and Angostura bitters to the icing (because yummy and like a cocktail). It was impressive and beautiful. I ate it for breakfast the following day. Heh.
Meredith
i used vegan butter instead of coconut oil, turned out really good i loved it. also skipped vanilla because i didnt have any on hand
Victoria M.
Can I substitute molasses?
grace
so delish
Jaclyn
Delicious!! Moist and perfect amount of sweetness to spices. I have made this twice in one week.
Fiona
Delicious! My friend, who is an accomplished cook, wanted to make me a birthday cake, so I gave her this recipe.
Everyone loved the cake, (including the intractable non-vegans!)
Lauren Toyota
awesome! Glad to hear it!
Vivian
I would like to make as cupcakes. Any suggestions on baking time?
Lauren Toyota
its probably close to the same amount of time
Abby Klauck
The maple buttercream is absolutely outstanding. I used the 1/4 c maple syrup, 3 c powdered sugar and did add something like a 1/4 tsp of salt and beat it until it was really light and whipped. Everyone loved it.
The actual cupcakes were good, but they did seem a bit dense, and I didn't love the pecans. I think the problem for me was that I couldn't taste the apple and the dice of the pecans resulted in more of a gritty texture. I also really wanted that bite of apple and didn't get it. If I make these again I'll probably double the apple (dicing instead of grating) and reduce the pecan amt along with chopping them a bit larger. Thanks for the recipe!
Erica Mowry
What variety of molasses did you use? I only have blackstrap and am concerned it will be too bitter with the other cake elements. Maybe maple syrup would be a sufficient substitute? Thank you! You are such a talented and inspiring person! Stay well and take care. 🙂
Lauren Toyota
yes blackstrap is right! Use it. It adds a nice taste I find with spices and sugar!
Monica
Made as a wedding cake for my vegan friend. Did a trial run the week prior. Rave reviews by one and all! Thank you.
Maddie
I just needed a Maple buttercream frosting recipe for my Vegan Gluten free Sweet Potato, oatmeal, flax muffin and this definitely was an awesome recipe. Totally in love with this frosting recipe. I had to stop myself from eating any more after trying it to check how it taste. OH MY!!!!!
Lauren Toyota
so happy you loved it!
Laura Beitzell
This is soooo good! The maple buttercream...yum.
Karen
Hello. I'm so stoked to try this recipe! Can it be done GF with almond flour or something similar?
Lauren Toyota
without gluten its a totally different recipe and I haven't tested this. you're better off searching for a GF cake recipe instead