Enjoy your afternoon tea with this Apple Tea Cake Recipe! It's like coffee cake meets tender fluffy cake to create a simple cake for apple lovers to enjoy. You can pair with a cup of tea or coffee, or have a slice anytime the craving hits.
Fair warning - you're going to want to eat this entire cake. The combination of the sliced apples with the golden brown, tender cake is so refreshing, delicious, and addictive! Every bite is loaded with warm spices and juicy apples, making it hard to forget.
Luckily, all you need are a few simple ingredients to get started, and you'll be eating this apple cake recipe in no time at all. I also like that you can change up the type of fresh apples that you use each time you make this cake, giving it a new flavor with ease. Dessert recipes like this are a breeze!
Be sure to try this Apple Cinnamon Mug Cake and this Small Coffee Cake Recipe for two other yummy desserts!
Ingredients
- Apples - Clean, peel, and slice the apples for this recipe.
- Sugar - Adds sweetness to the cake batter.
- Cinnamon - Adds a nice warm flavor.
- Oil - One of the main wet ingredients used to keep the cake from drying out while baking. Any mild flavored oil will work. If you choose coconut oil melt it before adding.
- Orange juice - Adds a nice citrus flavor.
- Flour - The main ingredient needed to make the cake batter.
- Baking powder - Adds texture to the cake.
- Vanilla extract - For flavor.
- Eggs - A good binder for the wet and dry ingredients.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make this Apple Tea Cake Recipe
Prep: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper, and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Mix ¼ cup of sugar and the cinnamon with the apple slices. Set aside.
Step One: Add the ingredients to a mixing bowl.
Step Two: Stir. The batter will be thick.
Step Three: Spread the cake batter into the prepared cake pan. Make it as even as possible.
Step Four: Lay the apple pieces on the top of the cake in a circular pattern.
Step Five: Put the pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Top Tip
Substitutions
- Brown sugar - You can use this in place of regular sugar for added coloring and sweetness to the recipe.
- Orange juice - If you don't have OJ you can sub sour cream or Greek yogurt to the batter to keep the cake moist.
Variations
- Apples - Apple teacake recipes like this are versatile in the type of apples that you can use. Granny Smith is fun for a tart flavor, while Honeycrisp or Pink Lady add a perfect sweetness.
- Apple topping - If you don't want to add sliced apples in a pattern on the top of the cake, you can add chunks of apple instead.
See this Cast Iron Irish Apple Cake for another one of my favorite desserts!
Equipment
All that you'll need to make this simple apple cake is a large mixing bowl, a hand mixer (optional), a 9-inch cake pan, and a spatula to scrape the cake batter off the side of the bowl.
Storage
Storing leftovers of this cake is a breeze. Be sure that you have a cooled cake, then add any remaining slices to an airtight container. You can keep the cake in the fridge or at room temperature.
You can also freeze any remaining apple cake. Again, airtight is key to keeping it fresh while frozen.
Common Questions
A cinnamon sugar mixture is a nice addition and pairs well with the sliced apples. If you don't want to add apples on top, you can easily just skip that step and add a little bit of powdered sugar or even a drizzle of your favorite homemade glaze. A lemon glaze or orange glaze would be super yummy!
Do your best to slice the apples evenly in terms of thickness. Otherwise, you'll have different textures. While this won't affect the outcome or the flavor of the cake, it will affect the texture as there will be bites that have some crispy apple slices mixed in with the softened apples.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
📖 Recipe
Apple Tea Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 medium apples peeled and sliced
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ½ cup oil
- 2 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs beaten
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 inch cake pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
- Mix ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon with the apples in a medium bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix the remaining ingredients to make the batter.
- Spread the batter in the prepared pan. It will be thick.
- Lay apples on top in a circular pattern.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges are golden.
Nutrition
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M says
Excellent cake, very moist. I used coconut oil. It came out very strong. But I like coconut. I used lemon juice since I don't usually keep orange juice on hand. My one year old really loved it. I denied him more after he frantically signed for more. Pretty soon there was a pitter patter of feet towards the kitchen. I found him sitting on the floor and happily eating a piece he had grabbed on the sly.