This Gluten Free Apple Cake is sweetly spiced, nut free and egg free. It’s super easy to throw together with pantry ingredients. Plus, it incorporates some healthy substitutes like buckwheat flour instead of all-purpose flour.
The cake is spiced with cinnamon and allspice. Cinnamon is a no-brainer with apples, and allspice has become one of my new favorite spices. If you don’t have any ground allspice at home, a pinch of nutmeg or cloves would also be delicious with the cinnamon.
How to make healthy apple cake
To make an apple cake that is both healthy and tasty, I make a few simple ingredient swaps. The idea is to substitute some of the more processed ingredients with less processed ones, while also keeping the sugar content under control.
- Use fresh apples: I like to use fresh red apples to make this cake, but any variety will work. Peeling the apples is optional. Removing the skin just helps the apple pieces meld better with the cake batter.
- Swap all-purpose flour for buckwheat flour: I love using buckwheat flour in healthy cake recipes like this one. It’s naturally gluten free and arguably more nutritious than many gluten-free flour blends.
- Lightly sweeten the cake with coconut sugar: The best thing about coconut sugar is its delicious caramel-like flavor. Of course, it is still sugar, so you don’t want to over do it. This apple cake recipe only calls for 1/2 cup, or 70 grams, in the whole cake.
Baking with buckwheat flour
When baking with flours like buckwheat flour, I recommend weighing it out in grams on a food scale. This is because cup measures can give varying results depending on how you place flour into the cup.
For example, scooping flour into a cup can result in more flour by weight than gently spooning it into the cup. The scooping action compresses the flour as it enters the cup, so you end up adding more to fill the cup.
To avoid this issue and the risk of adding too much flour to the recipe, weigh out your flour on a scale. I always provide flour measurements in grams for this purpose. Most digital food scales will allow you to measure in grams or ounces, with the option to switch between the two. I find it easiest to work in grams.
Ingredients for gluten free apple cake
- Apples: Red apples are my favorite for this cake. But any variety of apple will work.
- Unsalted butter: The traditional option for an apple cake. I like to use unsalted butter and add my own salt to the cake batter so that I can control the salt level.
- Coconut sugar: Adds a delicious caramel-like flavor to the cake. However, you could use brown sugar or raw sugar as a substitute if that’s what you have at home.
- Buckwheat flour: To keep the cake gluten free. If you don’t need the cake to be gluten free, it should work with all-purpose flour. I haven’t tested this but would love to hear if you do.
- Milk of choice: I used unsweetened oat milk. But any milk will work. If you’re using a non-dairy milk, opt for an unsweetened variety if you want to keep the sugar content down.
- Baking powder: To give the cake batter some lift. Make sure your baking powder is within its best before date because it stops working properly when it gets stale.
- Cinnamon: Pairs perfectly with apples. You could use ground ginger instead for a gingerbread vibe if you don’t like cinnamon.
- Allspice: Works perfectly with the cinnamon. You can substitute a pinch of nutmeg or cloves instead if you don’t have allspice at home. Or simply leave it out.
- Vanilla extract: Blends well with the spices. Vanilla paste would be even better if you have it.
- Salt: To enhance the flavors in the cake.
More gluten free baking recipes with buckwheat flour
- Buckwheat Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- Vegan Sweet Potato Chocolate Fudge Cake
- Almond Olive Oil Shortbread Cookies
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread without Dairy
Check out the Baking Recipes page for more healthy baking ideas.
Gluten Free Apple Cake with Buckwheat Flour Recipe
Serves
10 slices
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
55 mins
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup / 76 g unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup / 70 g coconut sugar (see Note 1)
- 14 oz / 400 g / about 3 apples (see Note 2)
- 1 cup / 120 g buckwheat flour (see Note 3)
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/4 tsp allspice powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- 3/4 cup / 180 ml / 180 g milk of choice (I use unsweetened oat milk)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
- Preheat your oven to 160°C fan-forced / 180°C / 350°F and line the base and sides of an 8 inch / 20 cm round cake tin with baking paper.
- Place the butter and coconut sugar into a small saucepan and stir over a low heat until the butter is melted. Set aside to cool.
- Peel, core and chop the apples into small pieces about 0.5 inch / 1 cm thick.
- Place the flour, cinnamon, allspice, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add the cooled melted butter and sugar mixture, milk and vanilla and fold everything together until just combined. Fold through the chopped apples. Don’t over mix.
- Pour the mixture into the lined tin and bake in the preheated oven on the middle rack for 55 to 60 minutes or until browned and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Allow to cool slightly in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle a pinch of coconut sugar on top before serving if desired.
Notes
- Coconut sugar – You can also use brown sugar or raw sugar if you prefer. I personally enjoy the rich toffee-like flavor of coconut sugar.
- Apples – You should end up with about 300 grams of chopped apple pieces after peeling, coring and chopping the whole apples. I peel the apples so that the apple pieces meld better with the cake batter. However, feel free to leave the skins on if you prefer.
- Flour – I recommend weighing your flour in grams on a food scale for best results. If you don’t have buckwheat flour and don’t need the cake to be gluten free, you can use all-purpose flour instead.
- Storage – Store the cooled cake in an airtight container in the fridge. It can be enjoyed cold, or warmed up in a microwave or oven before serving.
Nutrition Facts
- Serving size: 1 slice
- Energy: 158 Calories / 663 Kilojoules
- Total Fat: 6.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.1 g
- Total Carbohydrate: 22.5 g
- Dietary Fiber: 1.2 g
- Sugars: 11.5 g
- Protein: 1.8 g
- Sodium: 115 mg
- Potassium: 45 mg
Hi Lilian.
I just made this cake. Wasn’t sure about how it’d taste. It kinda had cooled down when i cut a slice of it. The apples seem to be a holding a lot of moisture. Do you think i sliced it way before it cooling down completely? Your cake in the video seems to be dryer than mine. Lol. Is that’s how it’s supposed to be because its my first time baking a GF Apple Cake for my celiac mom. It’s baked perfectly otherwise. Very crunchy on the outside. Yumm. Thank you for this recipe.
My pleasure, thanks Pam. The interior of the cake could end up more ‘wet’ if too much apple is added to the cake batter. After peeling, coring and chopping the apples, I weigh the apple pieces in grams before adding to the batter – it should be about 300g chopped apple pieces to get the consistency shown in the video and photos. Did you weigh the apple pieces? I also let the cake cool slightly in the tin, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting 🙂
Thank you for the reply. Yes i weighed all the ingredients and apples were 300grams after peeling coring and chopping. It’s cooled down completely and i must say it has the same look as yours in the video. I was actually very eager to taste it so it was a bit on the cooler side when i sliced it. So next time i make sure i slice only once completely cooled. Thanks a ton❤❤
I’m always eager to taste things too 🙂
OMG, this recipe was amazing!! I wanted something GF and healthy so I changed the sugar for honey…it came out delicious and brought out the cinnamon and all spice taste even more. Thank you for this recipe…it was a hit this Thanksgiving! I will be making it again soon. <3
Thanks so much Nadia! Great to hear you enjoyed it 🙂
Do you think we could use coconut oil instead of butter?
Hi Sarah, I haven’t tested the recipe with coconut oil instead of butter, but it should work. I’d love to hear if you try it out 🙂
Why do you say to measure the buckwheat flour in grams ? I filled a 1 cup of this flour, shook it down and it came to almost 5 ounces on my scale. Is this right ?
Hi Metteke, I recommend measuring in grams for accuracy but you can certainly convert the gram measurement into ounces if your scale only weighs in ounces. 120 grams of buckwheat flour should be approximately 4.2 ounces. If you shook the flour down into the cup, it may have packed it too tightly, which is why you got closer to 5 ounces. That’s why I always prefer to measure on a scale 🙂
Really good texture and taste, thank you for that.
Thank you, great to hear you enjoyed it!
I made this for breakfast. Wow, it was so good and suprisingly tender.
Thank you
So happy to hear you enjoyed it, thank you 🙂
great recipe….. a family favorite ********
Great to hear, thank you 🙂
So good! Really light and not too sweet. Not sure how much will be left in 5 minutes time.
So happy you enjoyed it!
Very nice! If you like buckwheat and apples, this is the cake for you! The consistency of the cake is just right — it’s moist without being gummy. I also used honey instead of sugar. 10/10!
Thank you! Great to hear you enjoyed it.