Hi everyone! Hope fall is going well for you all. In my last post, I mentioned how we had tons of apples from apple picking that I’ve been trying to use up. We’ve been eating most of them, but also baking up a storm! There’s nothing better than apple treats at this time of year! However, it’s been a while since I posted a healthy treat, so I decided I wanted to make this healthy apple cake! It’s basically a spin on my healthy strawberry cake, but with all the cinnamon and apple fall flavors instead! It is a perfect sweet treat that you can indulge in at this time of year without feeling too guilty, and is also paleo and nearly vegan, so it’s perfect for anyone out there with certain dietary restrictions. I won’t go into too much detail since the steps are nearly the same as my other healthy cake post, but let me break down some of the steps and changes for you.
The first change is swapping out strawberries for slightly cooked down cinnamon apples. I added an apple to a pot with cinnamon, vanilla, maple syrup and a splash of water, and let it cook until the water was mostly dissolved and the maple syrup turned syrupy. I didn’t want to cook them to the point of mush, but definitely wanted them to be a bit more tender. This ensure there won’t be any crunch to the apples in your cake! This is something typical of many paleo desserts for some reason, and I wanted to avoid that. In this recipe, the apples will mesh perfectly in with the soft crumb of the cake.
The dry and wet ingredients stayed mostly the same, however, I decided not to add lemon zest or juice in the wet ingredients, and added more cinnamon as well as apple pie spice to the dry mixture. Lemon wouldn’t hurt, but I find the amount in my previous recipe is too strong for all the spices in this cake. I really wanted this cake to taste like those warm, fall flavors, and when I tested it with the lemon, I think it distracted from that. It wasn’t bad by any means though, so if you love citrus, go for it.
In terms of the cashew frosting, I stuck with the same cashew cream recipe, but omitted raspberries and added cinnamon. It’s a perfect compliment to the cake, and not too overwhelming.
For decoration I just added some sliced apples around the top. If you really wanted to, you could make extra cooked apples and put those in between the layers and on top as well, and it would probably be delicious. I just kept it simple.
I hope you all enjoy this cake recipe and give it a try! My whole family love these healthy cakes I make, and they usually don’t do healthy desserts, so definitely give it a go! I’m looking forward to posting more fall treats for you 🙂
Enjoy!
With Love,
Jenna
Healthy Cinnamon Apple Cake
Ingredients
Healthy Cinnamon Apple Cake
- 2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour superfine is best
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp apple pie spice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup sunflower oil
- 4 eggs large
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 medium apples or one very large chopped
- 1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon depending on how much you like
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- water
Cinnamon Cashew Cream
- 1 cup cashews raw
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2-1 tsp cinnamon depending on how much you like
- 1 pinch salt
- 1-3 tbsp water or more depending on your desired consistency
Instructions
- Place cashews in a bowl of water and let soak for two hours.
- In the mean time, mix together the almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon, apple pie spice and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, add the eggs, honey, sunflower oil (*lemon juice and zest if you decide on it, orange would be great too*) and vanilla and whisk until combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together. Set aside.
- Take your diced apples and add them to a small sauce pot with the water, cinnamon, vanilla and maple syrup. Let cook down until tender enough to stick a fork through, but not so soft that it would mush. The maple syrup and water should be a little caramel-y.
- Fold the cooked apples into the batter. Divide evenly into two 6-inch pans and bake for 40 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- For the cinnamon cashew cream, drain the cashews that have been soaking for two hours. Add to a high power blender with the maple syrup, water, cinnamon and salt. Blend until creamy and smooth.
- Once the cakes are out of the oven and cooled, spread half the cashew cream on one layer of the cake, then stack the other cake on top, followed by the rest of the cashew cream. Decorate as you please!
- Serve and enjoy!
This sounds delicious!!! I will have to try to make