Cinnamon Apple Cake
We looooove apples in this household. Consuming about 8-10 each day! We have a tradition of going apple picking, with hayrides and hot apple cider every year, unfortunately with the timing of my pregnancy and Fiona’s birth, I just didn’t have the energy to do it. My kids were understanding and we will continue with the tradition next fall. In the meantime, local farmstand apples have been treating us well. Nice, crisp galas, pink ladies and macintosh are among my favorites. What is your favorite apple? I’d love to know. Maybe it’s one I have yet to try, as I usually stick to what I know. Boring, eh?
Here is a little secret when it comes to baking with apples: choose large apples. Here is why. The larger the apple, the less apples you have to peel and core to get the amount needed in your recipes. You will notice that I give you a measured cup amount of peeled, diced apples, for this very reason. All apples are different sizes and this gives you more accuracy- which is essential for baking!
This cake makes a wonderful breakfast treat, and can easily be dressed up for dessert with some coconut caramel sauce and whipped cream. Or you can scoop them into muffin tins for a quick breakfast on-the-go!
Cinnamon Apple Cake
- 1/2 cup melted butter or coconut oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup almond flour, firmly packed
- 3 tablespoons coconut flour, firmly packed
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans/walnuts
- 2 cups diced apples (about 2 apples, peeled cored and diced)
- whole pecans for decoration (optional)
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Whisk together wet ingredients. Add flours, baking soda and salt, whisk until smooth.
- Stir in nuts and apples. Pour into greased 9 inch pie plate or springform pan.
- Bake for 40-50 minutes, until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. If it looks like it is getting too dark, turn oven down to 300.
- Allow cake to cool slightly before cutting. Serve warm or at room temperature.
I’m starting to compile a few recipes for Thanksgiving. I will also be sharing my tricks for the perfect turkey. Do you host Thanksgiving? What are you in charge of making? Hosting comes with it’s challenges, but with the right preparations (and help from family) it can be done!
Here are a few of my Thanksgiving recipes I shared last year to get us started:
Are you on Pinterest? Don’t forget to pin recipes that you are going to try! ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
It’s a great tool for organizing and keeping track of different recipes for the holidays. There is a Pin-it button located at the bottom of each post and a Facebook share button at the very top of each post. Feel free to share recipes you find with your friends, because you never know who might be looking for gluten free options! You can also follow my gluten free board on Pinterest or become a fan on Facebook.
Many blessings!
~Michelle
I’m so glad you posted this recipe. My mother used to make an apple cake that I’ve been wanting to recreate grain free and voila…here it is! Thank you Michelle. :)
You’re welcome Renee! Please be sure to come and share how it turned out for you. I hope it can compare to your mom’s recipe :)
~Michelle
My favorite at the moment is the Fuji. They are delicious! I have taken to chopping 1/2 an apple into a microwave safe bowl, throwing on a little no sugar added applesauce, some raisins and cinnamon and warming it all in the microwave for about 45 seconds to 1 minute. I top with a little coconut milk vanilla ice cream. The best fast dessert around. I will be making this cake though, it looks amazing! Thank you for another great recipe. I don’t now how you find the time to blog, but am so glad you do!!!
Kathy,
That sounds delicious! I love quick recipes like that :)
~Michelle
My favorite pie apple is Northern Spy.
But Honeycrisps have me under their spell! I haven’t tried cooking with them. I just gobble them up & never have enough to cook with! I slice them & use them as a substitute for crackers. Top them with everything from peanut butter to liverwurst. Yum!
Oh, Honeycrisps, I forgot about those. Soo good!
I love Golden Delicious and Pink Ladies. For lunch today I’m making waldorf-style salad with Honey Crisps. :)
i’m making this today for dinner guests and am using Crispin’s. i’ve never used them before, but red that they are a great dessert/baking apple. the caramel and whipped cream is on the menu, too!
I had the privilege of eating this at Michelle’s house. It is so tasty and I loved the texture!!! I will attempt to make this too! Love, Michelle’s gluten eating sister.
looking fwd to trying this, love anything apple! question- coconut oil, do you use the liquid oil or do you melt the solid? I have tried the liquid and find it makes receipt really soft, and the melted solid leaves a white film.
Hi Sue,
I always melt my coconut oil down and measure it in it’s liquid form. It helps if the eggs and other ingredients are at room temperature as it will keep the coconut oil from solidifying when making the batter.
~Michelle
Thanks Michelle, this will help. Keep up the good work, you are truly appreciated!!
My family and I are just starting out on a grain-free, GMO-free & sugar-free way of eating. I have been searching for recipes my family will enjoy. Some are hits and some are misses, but this one is a definite hit. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. It is great to find an easy recipe with simple ingredients that my family loves.
I love to eat Honeycrisp apples, but they are SO expensive. Galas are my usual favorite. When baking a pie, I like to use at least three different varieties of apples. This make it taste SO MUCH better! Sweets and sours mixed, ie: Galas, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Northern Spy (preferred for pie); in other words: 2 sweets and a sour or 2 sweets and 2 sours. Never use the mushy Delicious apples (a misnomer, in my book, although the Golden’s are very good for baking). Be sure to use baking apples that remain firm when baking. Can’t wait to try this cake recipe! Thanks!
I am an apple lover! Living in Washington allowed me to buy straight from my farmer and try sooo many varieties. Now that we live in Texas, it’s just not quite the same. But for my all-time favorites: Ambrosia for eating and good ol’ Granny Smith for baking.
What could I replace the almond flour with? This looks like an amazing dessert for Christmas dinner but we are almond, cashew and peanut-free (and paleo) in our house.
I used half buckwheat and half tapioca flour in place of the almond. It was very nice!
I’m going to try this with the fuyu persimmons I harvested from our tree. They are crunchy like apples and definitely fit into that fall flavor scheme. I, sadly, can’t eat eggs, but I will make this for the rest of the family.
Hi! Our son is gluten free & very picky. I made this today for him but nervous I didn’t bake it long enough. It is very moist, but the bottom is almost soggy. I’m hoping I got a lil carried away with the olive oil spray??? I tried it & it takes good but I’m nervous…I was wondering what the texture should be like??
Thanks so much! Love the kid recipes!
Wendy
You should try using baking paper.
I made this for Christmas morning, I had a couple friends over too, they absolutely loved it!! I did too, its got a great balance of sweet and fresh, just delish!! thanks so much for all you’re wonderful recipes, I also made 3 of your cookies too!! Cant wait to make this again!!
P.S.
I used gala apples, they were amazing!!
Thanks again!!
-Julia
You are very welcome Julia, I’m glad you and your friends enjoyed the cake :)
~Michelle
Just curious if you could use dried apples in this recipe too? Thanks for your input. :)
I made these this morning to go with your green eggs and ham as a special school / work morning breakfast for the family. I think I used too much apple as they sort of took over the muffin cups, but the batter smelled heavenly and a little drop on my finger tastes so good. Thanks for coming up with such a delicious and healthy treat!
I’m in the middle of mixing the ingredients for this cake. Does it really only use 1/2 cup + 3 Tablespoons of flour?
I’ve made this recipe twice now. The first time I made it, it was amazing. Thank you so much for this as I kept making apple muffins with apple sauce and it wasn’t working out for me. The second time with the changes below was equally delicious but the texture was slightly different (less chewy) – please note that I am making these in muffin cups and only cooking for 25-30mins.
Additional half cup of apples
Half cup of Almond Flour – Swapped for 1/4 cup LSA & 1/8 cup Buckweat & 1/8 cup Tapioca Flour
I also didn’t have any coconut flour so I used 1 1/2 TBsp of Brown Rice Flour and 1 1/2 TBsp of Dessicated Coconut instead
I also reduced the Honey to 1/3 cup
Additional 1tsp of Cinnamon
I have made this recipe so many times, but I haven’t left a review, so here it is. We LOVE this! What a wonderful treat! The first time I made it for breakfast and served it as is. Since I have brought it to a couples book discussion (not for a gluten-free crowd), and everyone thought it was wonderful–came back for seconds, etc. When I brought it there I made the coconut milk caramel sauce to go with it so that it would seem more like a dessert. It was just the thing and perfect for autumn. By the way, I have tried it with apples, baking pears, and blueberries, and all were delicious. I have also added just a little nutmeg; if you like nutmeg it is a perfect addition!
One other thing: I have both doubled and tripled this recipe and they all came out beautifully. When I doubled it I put it in a 9″x13″ glass baking dish and when I tripled it I used a 10″x15″ glass baking dish. The only thing I did differently was to slightly–and I do mean slightly–decrease the baking soda. Anyway, just thought that might be useful if anyone else wants to do that. I don’t remember how long I baked it for–sorry!
Thank you SO much for such a wonderful and versatile recipe! I love that it doesn’t contain any starches or other typical gluten-free baking ingredients. I also love that I can take it somewhere and people don’t even realize it’s gluten-free. My family just plain loves it. In fact my husband starts dicing up fruit just so I’ll make it. :)
Thanks for your doubling/tripling tips! I will be making this for the first time for a church dinner event tomorrow. :) I will double it. I wonder if agave can be subbed for the honey? Would love to know if anyone has tried that.
We made this yesterday with golden delicious that were leftover from the week’s lunches and it was a big hit. The house smelled good while it was baking and it was a terrific end to our soup and salad dinner on a chilly winter’s night. We always have apples leftover from the week that we end up cooking in some way. I’m happy to have another option and one that’s so easy and tasty! Next I think I’ll try making the muffin version as a lunch box treat :)
I have never posted anything before .. And I also have made this so many times I thought I should say something about this recipe. This cake is absolutely delicious, versatile ( I’ve subbed different flours also, thrown in raisins or whatever) I’ve made it with and without the Carmel – both delicious. I am picky about baked goods- gluten free doesn’t always mean healthy but with such a low amount of flour/honey ( I’ve used coconut sugar also) and with all that healthy apple and almonds I do consider this a healthy treat. And so amazingly easy, and versatile! Just wanted to say thanks! I’ll be making this for years to come :)
I am allergic to coconut so what flour would you substitute for the coconut flour?
I have three words for this… Nom Nom Nom!! I found this recipe a few days ago and have been waiting for the weekend to try it. Wow, was this worth the wait! I used honey crisp apples which turned out to be the perfect combination of sweet and tart. I didn’t have enough honey so I used 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup coconut sugar. Fabulous!
I made this today … but it fell apart when I tried to cut it :( Any suggestions? Did i use too much coconut flour?
I just made this cake and I must say it turned out great . This is the first time I,v done any gluten free baking of any kind, I had a hard time finding the flour for it , but I found it.
Thanks Michelle, now every one in the house can have some great tasting cake for the holidays.
I love apples too, so I have to try your recipe. My favorite apples for cooking are gravensteins. They are amazing with a sweet-tart flavor like no other, they stay firm in pies and never get mushy. To bad they are becoming so hard to find.
Hi Michelle! I bookmarked this recipe several weeks ago and made it this morning. It’s staying on the list. You’ve achieved a lovely texture and fine balance of flavor with this cake. I love to bake but was starting to tire of paleo recipes – mostly the sponginess of recipes that solely use coconut and the aftertaste of solely using almond flour. And then some recipes that combine them do not hold up when you cut them and even in the mouth they just dissolve…anyway, you’ve helped me back on the path!
I used Granny Smith and baked for 50 min in ceramic pie plate. I will try muffins next for lunch boxes! thank you for an exceptional recipe!
We struggle to find great gf baking recipes that are simple and delicious. I give you 5 stars! I served this cake warm with vanilla ice cream and our family mmm’d and wow’d while eating it. Thank you for putting attention and love into your recipes. The Pecan Tassies were received the same way at home and when I took them to work. Nobody knew they were gluten free. I always tell my family that every meal is cooked with love….and that’s just what you’ve given us. Many thanks to you.
Thank you – just what I needed to make today! It turned out just like the picture and tasted delicious – and so simple to make.
I made this for Rosh Hashanah and it was gobbled up by happy people at temple. Mine rose and the fell, ending up maybe 1 in or 1.5 inches tall. Did I do something wrong?
Yummy, just made this and my husband and I both loved it.. Thanks for sharing.