Here’s a delightful cake for afternoon tea – Cinnamon Apple Teacake! Apples take centerstage here – you’ll find them inside AND on top, mingling with buttery cinnamon flavours.
While it’s sheer perfection fresh out of the oven, this is one of those rare cakes that is still truly great 3, 4, 5 days later!
Cinnamon Apple Teacake
I call this a teacake because it just seems like the perfect cake to serve at a quaint afternoon tea with friends. Filtered sunlight streaming in, a rustic table laden with baked goods (scones essential), freshly brewed tea served in teacups, sitting around with my friends, chatting and laughing gently.
The reality of gatherings with my friends is quite the opposite. We screech, we ROAR with laughter. We’ll debate economic policy, but you’re more likely to walk into an animated discussion about Real Housewives, cheeky jokes about Magic Mike (& XXL😈), or dissecting Survivor.
This from a group of highly educated women – lawyers, finance executives, journalists.
And a food blogger. 😂
All jokes aside though, I do have some semblance of logic for why I call this a teacake – because it’s a single layer, not very tall, simple cake. Exactly the sort of cake you’d whip up for an impromptu afternoon tea with friends – as opposed to a dramatic two layer Red Velvet Cake or Carrot Cake piled high with fluffy frosting.
(In case you’re interested – other quick ‘n easy cakes I make for impromptu gatherings include this Strawberry Cake, Blueberry Cake and a chopped Apple Cake.)
LOTS of apples in this teacake recipe!
I say this is a simple teacake recipe, and the cake batter itself IS simple to make. But it does take time to chop the apples because I use quite a generous amount.
600g/1.2lb, to be exact. Because if we’re going to make an apple cake, I want to make sure we can TASTE the apple in it – rather than just a few token bits of apple littered throughout the cake!
Here’s what you need:
-
Apples – use any type of apples you want. My personal favourite is Granny Smith – I just adore the slight tartness to offset the sweetness of cakes;
-
Butter for flavour, oil for moisture – a winning combination I use frequently. We all love butter, but it does nothing to hold moisture in cakes;
-
Flour and baking powder – these can be switched with self raising flour;
-
Cinnamon – because apple + cinnamon is a match made in heaven.
How I chop apples for cake
Here’s how I peel, core and chop apples for this cake. I find this method yields the least waste / is speedy.
But use whatever means works for you – if you don’t have a scooper like you see in Step 2 below, just quarter it then cut out the core using a knife.
Peeling is optional for the slices used for the topping, but recommended for the chopped pieces mixed into the batter (biting into skin in a tender cake isn’t ideal).
How to make Cinnamon Apple Teacake
After you get past chopping the apples, the cake batter itself is dead easy: whisk wet, whisk dry, mix them together. Top with apples, bake.
The one thing I do very deliberately is to only use cinnamon to coat the apple. I feel like you get more bang for your buck to get good cinnamon flavour in the cake – you need a fair amount to make the crumb itself really taste of cinnamon.
Also I like having a pale cake crumb – it looks nicer with the contrast to the deep golden apple topping!
Glazing the cake
Brushing the cake with warmed jam is entirely optional – it’s just to give it a lovely shiny finish.
It’s best to use apricot jam because it glazes on clear. Other flavour jams (strawberry, raspberry etc) work just fine but there is a slight tinge of colour – though not really noticeable in this teacake because the apples are golden!
No photo – not even the recipe video – can capture how beautifully moist the crumb of this cake is. And the smell when it’s baking…. ugh! Cinnamon! Apple! Butter! Cake!
There are not enough exclamation marks in this world!
So, I guess you’re just going to have to make it so you can experience it for yourself. 😇 – Nagi x
PS BIG UPSIDE – this is one of those rare cakes that actually really truly holds up perfectly for days and days. Yes it is spectacular fresh out of the oven. But it is near perfect for 3 to 4 days, and will keep for 5 to 6 days in the fridge, weeks, months in the freezer!
Watch how to make it
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Cinnamon Apple Teacake
Ingredients
Cinnamon Apples:
- 600g/ 1.2 lb Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored (or any other - red, green, golden) (4 large, 5 small/medium, Note 1)
- 2 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 50g/ 3 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 2 tbsp white sugar
Dry:
- 1 1/2 cups flour , plain/all purpose
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Wet:
- 4 tbsp/ 60g unsalted butter , melted
- 1/2 cup oil (canola, vegetable)
- 2 large eggs , at room temperature (~55g/1.95 oz each) (Note 2)
- 3/4 cup white sugar , caster / superfine best (but not essential)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze (optional):
- 1 1/2 tbsp apricot jam (or other flavour)
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types).
- Grease a 20cm / 8" springform pan with butter, then line with baking paper (parchment paper).
Apples:
- Chop half the apples into 1.25 cm / 1/2" pieces.
- Slice the other half into 3mm / 1/8" thick slices.
- Place into separate bowls. Sprinkle/drizzle each bowl with half the butter, sugar and cinnamon. Toss to coat, set aside.
Batter:
- Whisk Dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Pour Wet ingredients in a separate bowl in the order listed. Whisk well to combine.
- Pour Wet into the Dry ingredients bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until flour is incorporated.
- Add chopped apple. Gently mix through until JUST dispersed (to keep cinnamon on apple, not dispersed through batter).
- Scrape into cake pan, smooth surface.
- Top with sliced apples - fan them out in a circle, overlapping each other by 1/4 (fiddle away to use up all the apple / make it even!).
- Bake 50 minutes, or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (Note 3). Cover loosely with foil if you have to bake beyond 50 min (to stop apples burning).
- Place on cooling rack, release sides of springform pan.
Glaze & Serve:
- Heat Glaze: Place jam and water in a small bowl, microwave 20 seconds to warm, then mix.
- Glaze: Brush apples on surface with glaze.
- Cool: Allow to cool at least 30 minutes before cutting with sharp knife. It is sheer perfection when it's still slightly warm in the middle.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More apple recipes
I am very fond of apple desserts!
Life of Dozer
Compost in action!
Love the sound of this cake & will certainly be making it. I particularly like the detail you go into in the “recipe notes” removes so much guess work. Have always found your and your mother’s recipes excellent.
Thank you so much Sue, that’s so lovey to know! N x
Tastes even better as it ages
I’m so glad you love it Leslie! N x
WOW another delicious recipe, thank you. Recipetineats never lets me down, my no.1 go to for recipes. Thanks for all your hard work.
Thanks so much Cheryl, I really appreciate it! N x
Made this on the weekend for my husband’s birthday and it was a big hit 🎂
Super easy to make – the hardest part was peeling the apples!
Thank you Nagi (another recipe to add to my favourites!)
I’m so glad you loved it Maria! N x
Thank you Nagi for this gorgeous cake. I had to add about 30mns to the baking time (checking every ten mns). I did cover the top loosely but the bottom burnt slightly thanks to my awful oven! Maybe a tray under the tin would prevent this? But it was still beautiful. I have made many of your recipes and I make sure to always check on the Dozer updates! Thank you again! Marie-Christine X
Hi Marie-Christine, sorry you had issues here – I imagine it’s your oven thermostat as it should definitely not take an extra 30 minutes to cook! N x
Yes you’re probably right! It was to be replaced then covid19 happened!
Delightful!
I have a fussy family, but was determined to make this in my Timber Cake Box (cook low & slow).
Even though I pulled it out of the oven after bed time last night, the stocktake results speak for themselves:
Cake gone, family crying for more!
Thank you for sharing Nagi.
Wahoo! That’s great Jacqui! N x
Could this recipe be adjusted for a 9” springform pan?
Hi John, you can use a 9″, the cake will be slightly shorter. N x
Thank you for every recipe I’ve received from you. I enjoy your
comments.
Thanks so much Stella! N x
Easy recipe that turns out such a wonderful cake. It is like magic!
As I had pears and apples on hand, I used both. Mixed in the pear cubes (and ginger) with the apple cubes (and cinnamon). It was so good!
Thank you for this recipe! I am sure this will be a favorite for years to come.
Made this morning, but in a 9×9 pan and without the layer of apples on top. Just dribbled a little confectioner sugar glass on top. YUM! This goes straight to the rotation list!
Perfect Martha! N x
Another WINNING Recipe (they’re all winners in my book..going on my 168 recipe from RecipeTinEats). I made two Apple Tea Cakes yesterday…only 1/2 of one left today and the kidos are already getting into it for breakfast. .You are batting a 1,000 in our world of Deliciousness .
Thank you for all your preparation, testing, twicking and hard work perfecting these delectable recipes out to us..you have turned my cooking world to the sunny side!
Thank YOU (and taste tester Dozer)!
Wahoo! Thanks so much Mug! N x
Tasty and pretty cake, especially the double dose of apples! I have to say though that I prefer cake made just with butter and not with oil (I am an apple cake junkie and normally use some variant of pound cake, with some rum added when we are not subjected to lockdown prohibition!). To me this cake tasted too oily. But I generally am not a fan of vegetable oil and for the same reason I often find “moist” cakes that other people rave about just… oily. It is a personal preference, possibly based on cultural background (I am Austrian by birth, and you wouldn’t have caught my grandmother baking cake with oil). In my view apple cake is plenty moist for my taste not to need it.
Hi Susi, it’s the oil that does keep the cake moist and butter is more for flavour, I haven’t tested this one without oil though, I feel it would be too dry unfortunately! N x
There isn’t anything wrong with the recipe (and to prove my point, I just scarfed down two pieces of this cake after swearing I’d just have the one). It’s a personal preference and seemingly reflects a continental European vs. UK-US-Commonwealth divide in approach to cakes. I thought of this after posting my comment yesterday and went and had a look in my French, Italian, Austrian and Hungarian cookbooks that I use – none of them use oil in their cakes. The cakes I grew up with do have a denser (“less moist”) texture, whereas in South Africa (where I live) the general preference and practice is definitely for the oil based ones. Your recipe is clearly a winner with your fans and I will just stick with cakes that use butter 🙂 I totally love your blog and recipes so I will be back!
Made this yesterday to have for friends coming today with rhubarb (just ripening in Canada) so I can make Rhubarb Platz. 3/4 of the teacake already gone. Sheesh! I discovered I have to press the apple topping down next time or the slices become dislodged. But the neighbourhood consensus is “Make more please.”.
Wahoo!! Great Ann! N x
I just made this and it was really good!
I had to add ca. 25 mins to the baking time. I also cut sugar to 1/2 cup and it was sweet enough for me.
Hi Winnie, sounds like your oven runs cool – I’m so glad you enjoyed it thought! N x
Used apples and feijoas. Was lovely and moist.
Sounds delicious Kerry-Lee! N x
Oh I have just been looking up cinnamon tea cake recipes over the last few days!
And I do love apples so maybe I’ll abandon the original idea and make this one.
I hope you give it a go Brigette, love to know what you think! N x
I did, Nag! My Mum says way better than a cinnamon tea cake, and I’m making another one today for my sister!
Thanks for another great recipe.
Lucky you at the hairdresser we are not there yet but fingers crossed..Luca looks like a shaggy.dog groomers. Got the. Green light but they are so backed up poor Luca will be groomed end of June. Thanks for recipe my Favourite Apple is granny smith yummy
Love a good Granny Smith Gillian – perfect for this recipe too 🙂 N x
This cake is absolutely delicious! It turned out perfectly, and was so easy to make. My partner gave it a 5 star rating!
I will definitely be making this again. Thank you Nagi.
WOOT! That’s great to hear Wendy, thanks so much 🙂 N x
I haven’t made this cake yet but plan to soon. Could I substitute pears for the apples? Love your recipes.
Hi Denise, I haven’t tried to be honest, would love to know if it works! N x
Love your recipes. Love your dog!
Thanks so much Vickie ❤️
Wonderful Cake for our daily Filipino Merienda/Aussie Tea. My two kids were even able to help – one did the dry ingredients and the other did the wet ones, while I sliced apples. Thank you!
That’s lovely to hear Filipina! N x