1-Bowl Apple Gingerbread Cake

I have made and remade this a few times now, and it never disappoints! I even make it as muffins when I can’t think of an excuse to put frosting on top. It is absolutely one of my favorites!

I made this yesterday for my husband’s post-Christmas birthday and it was a hit! Really easy to make, super yummy, and a nice somewhat healthy-ish alternative to all the other baked goods around this time of year. I made the recipe exactly as written but added spiced pecans rather than plain ones on top. Delicious. Thank you!

I made this cake for the 2nd time today and I’m absolutely in love with it. Didn’t change anything big, just used maple syrup instead of molasse, since I couldnt find any. Sad to say I only discovered the option to swap to metric system after calculating cups into grams all by myself for the 2nd time … :D

Thanks for this recipe, it’s perfect for christmas

OMG! This was such a hit for our Friendsgiving dinner! I used a 8×8 pan and made it an apple/caramel upside down cake! I didn’t have enough cream cream so I used a vegan coconut cool whip instead. It was amazing!

Made this cake for Thanksgiving. It was soo delicious! I substituted gluten-free flour (1 cup Bob’s Red Mill 1:1, 1/2 cup almond flour), eggs, 1/4 cup ripe mashed banana, 1/4 cup coconut + avocado oil, and oat milk. It was moist, not too dense, and tasted like apple spice. I especially liked the addition of pecans on the frosting! Yum. Thanks, Minimalist Baker!

I made this as directed but the cakes were done after 19 minutes. They didn’t rise as much as I would have liked, but still tasted delicious. Very moist, and the frosting was great. Like a carrot cake!

I tried exactly as the recipe specified this but it was too liquidy and didn’t bake! I recommend squeezing out apples completely

I made this for my MIL’s birthday. It was delicious and everyone loved it. The cream cheese icing was thick enough without adding flour or icing sugar.
Going to try them as cupcakes next.

somehow it became my favourite cake, easy to make and so moist! To make it faster I only make 1 crust and icing of just coconut cream, cane sugar, coconut oil, lemon juice and agar agar. Thank you!

This cake was amazing! So moist and delicious, and tasty without being overpoweringly sweet! Thanks for another great recipe :). My family loved this!

I made this for Thanksgiving Eve and it was delicious. Everyone, vegan and non-vegans enjoyed this cake. And I accidentally forgot the 1/2 of oil and it was still amazing. Maybe I didn’t ring the apples out enough so the juice made up for lack of oil because it was super moist and tasty!

This is my favorite cake recipe, and I’ve made it many times. I omit the molasses without substituting another sweetener. The apples, brown sugar, and spices combine for a nice flavour, but the molasses overpowers it and makes the cake too dense. Honeycrisp apples are best. I use coconut oil because I always have it and it’s easy to find.

Made this today as single layer in a 9” cake tin and it took a bit longer to cook – just over an hour. The cake is soft and the spices and apple pair beautifully. Opted for a maple syrup glaze instead of the frosting and it was a nice hit of sweetness. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

oooooooo so so good!! it’s spring so i used 1 1/2 cups of blueberries instead of the grated apple, 1/2 cup total of sugar, bit extra molasses and double the spices. added extra oats because it looked quite wet and it baked up so fluffy and lovely in an 9×9 pan. thank you!!

Made this with the GF flour blend and baked in one 8″ round tin for 50 minutes. Iced with the cashew buttercream frosting. It was delicious and super moist.

I made this recipe for christmas and it was absolutely amazing. I subbed maple syrup and more suger for the molasses and the results were still good. I used a cashew frosting and it worked really well with the cake.

This made a pleasantly moist and modestly spiced apple cake. I feared it was too moist at first (maybe because it’s difficult to judge if you’ve extracted half of the juice from the grated apples), but after completely cooling, and especially the next morning, everything was holding together nicely.
I think I’d like to try squeezing out all of the apple juice next time and replacing some of that lost liquid with molasses for a darker/richer gingerbread, and also amp up the spices (at least doubling the ginger and/or adding fresh), including some cloves and maybe allspice and dry mustard.

I made this cake for a family dinner and everyone loved it. I used 3 apple (2 Macintosh and 1 Granny Smith) I also ended up only using 2 cups of powdered sugar and no flour in the frosting. I used kite hill plain cream cheese and earth balance sticks for the frosting. The cake wasn’t as ginger heavy as I was anticipating from the title, but delicious non the less. Reminded me of carrot cake. I will absolutely make it again! Thank you!!

DELICIOUS. I made this for a Friendsgiving and it was so good i made it again to share with my neighbors. I followed the directions to the letter. Perfection. I used honeycrisp and granny smith apples. ~3/4 cup honey crisp and ~1/2 cup granny smith. Thanks for this great recipe! Will make it again! :)

Made this with a couple tweaks and it was delicious. The family loved it. Thanks!

This cake turned out great – fed it to a non-vegan crowd and it was a hit! I used real eggs instead of flax because I’m not vegan, just dairy-free. Also, I didn’t use any flour in the frosting – I just let it set up a bit in the fridge before using and it was perfect. I candied the walnuts and which gave it an extra little “something.”

Delicious! I even slightly messed up and it worked. I had put the layers in the oven and realised I hadn’t put the oil in so put it in after. It was only a minute of baking-oops.
I used grape seed oil, rice malt syrup, plain flour for the cake and vegan spreadable butter for the icing. I actually added lemon and vanilla to the icing as well- but I just like that.
It sat side by side on the dessert table with a regular carrot cake and the relatives were amazed at how good it was. Made them realise vegan eating doesn’t mean missing out on cream cheese icing!!
I’m making it again tonight.

I don’t know what happened, but this did not set up for me. It was very liquidy in the middle, even after baking an additional six minutes. I did swap half of the flour our for almond flour, but do that regularly without issue. Flavor was very good though.

Delicious! I made this for a family gathering and received many compliments. The cake is moist and flavorful. I especially thought the molasses added depth to the flavor and the rolled oats provided a nice chewiness to the texture. The cream cheese frosting is perfect for the apple and gingerbread combination. Many thanks for this recipe!

I made this for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it! It was so quick and easy. I can’t wait to make it again.

This cake was a huge hit with my family! We love all the spices in this cake so I doubled them all to make it extra spicy!

I made the cake about five days before I needed it, wrapped it well in plastic wrap, and froze it.

On the day before I was going to serve it, I made the frosting (I doubled the amount of frosting), and I frosted the cake while it was frozen. Then I put the frosted cake back in the freezer taking it out about four hours before serving it.

I didn’t have enough Earth Balance for the frosting so I subbed in some shortening. Turned out great. I would have liked more of a cream cheese flavor. Next time I’ll double the amount of Tofutti in the frosting. I also added a bit of vanilla to the frosting.

The cake was beautiful, cut beautifully, and tasted so delicious. Even the carnivores loved it! Thank you for this perfect recipe!

Made this for Thanksgiving dessert. My son has a nut allergy, so instead of pecans atop the frosting, we sprinkled diced crystallized ginger along the top rim. It was pretty! And sooooo tasty like all of your recipes. On Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for MB recipes that always help the vegan meals I make special!

Great cake. I ended up adding 1/4 -1/3 cup extra flour because it was too liquidy. Glad I did because the consistency turned out perfect! My husband didn’t care for the texture of the oats, so next time I will try cutting them out and adding a bit more flour. Overall a delicious eggless cake recipe!! Thanks so much for sharing it!

Made this cake for my birthday and it was amazing!! I used spelt flour instead of wholewheat which was super tasty. Also we didn’t have any mollassis so I used some mollassis sugar and coconut sugar and treacle instead of mollassis. It worked amazingly! Added some ground ginger to the icing because I love ginger. Thanks so much for this amazing vegan recipe, we’ve successfully converted my family to vegan baking!

This looked terrific but not being vegan and not experienced with the modifications, I used 2 regular eggs, a mixture of melted butter and walnut oil, frosted it with organic cream cheese (spiked with a little bourbon and powdered sugar). Terrific!!! Thanks Dana!! Hope your other not-strictly-vegan readers will be inspired and your vegan readers not too offended…!

Love love love this recipe. Used an extra half an apple and subbed for half the oil and topper with a sprinkle of pepitas because it was what I had on hand. Next time I plan on making it without the frosting, so I can have a yummy, healthy breakfast! Definitely a keeper!

I made this cake for Thanksgiving and it was loved by all, even those who were skeptical about a gingerbread cake. Everyone had a massive slice and took some home so I had no leftovers.
Changes I made:
*I subbed brown sugar with coconut sugar
*When I went to cool the two cake layers, I accidentally dropped one of them on the floor (rookie mistake). So I made another batch and ended up having 3 layers in total
*I put candied ginger in between the middle and top layer and it was a major hit
I already have requests to make this cake again. Thanks for the delicious recipe!

I made this cake for a combo birthday cake/Thanksgiving dessert. AMAZING!! I didn’t have almond milk so I subbed with soy. I also subbed the organic cane sugar for coconut sugar. It was so delicious! It is now my new favorite cake! For an extra hit of ginger, I may add either fresh or candied ginger in my next recipe. If you like frosting, I recommend doubling the frosting recipe … especially if you’re making a layer cake. It was scrumptious!! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! It’s a keeper!

Great cake recipe! Very forgiving, I un veganized it and doubled the spices and it was delicious! Had to mess around with the frosting but thats because i used the not vegan versions I’m sure and the water content was different

Couldn’t wait for the cool weather to return so I could make this perfect cake again. I put all the batter into a spring form pan. No frosting. Just a generous dusting of confectioner’s sugar. Like to keep things simple, but elegant. Was a huge hit at dinner this week. The molasses is key!

Found this recipe while looking for vegan cakes online and you specifically say “vegan cream cheese frosting” and then the recipe asks for butter in the pan and butter in the frosting… Last time I checked, butter comes from cows…

I made this last night and it turned out soooo tasty! Better than any bakery bought cake (imo), knowing that I made it myself.
I added some coconut flakes in the batter, frosting, and as a topping.
It didn’t turn out as *pretty* as the one pictured here but I’m not a professional so I didn’t expect it to.
The only thing was that it took longer to make than 1 hour. It would’ve been nice to have an extra set of hands helping me out.
Thanks for this recipe :)

Excellent!

I made it yesterday. My husband took it today to his job. I got three -WOW- from his coworkers ( non gluten free) and request for the recipe. Just amazing. I substituted molasses for honey and brown sugar for agave syrup and i used 2 cups of spelt flour.

Many thanks for the really fabulous and delicious recipe, I really liked its texture and flavor. For my intolerance to gluten and as refined sugar consumption. Use quinoa flour and carob flour, organic honey and organic coconut sugar and only sodium bicarbonate. I made the cake for a lunch with my friends and they loved it. I really like your recipes.

Excellent! I baked the cake in a spring-form pan. After cooling for about ten minutes removed the ring and then only maybe thirty minutes later we started cutting slices and putting butter on them. Before you knew it half of it was gone! The next day when I served what was left just powdered the top. I’ve made the above frosting before and it’s delicious, but with a rich cake like this don’t want the frosting competing with the flavors of the cake. I’m thinking this recipe would make good muffins. Next time! Thanks again for all your great recipes.

This cake is amazing!! So super delicious. Everyone loved it, even the meat eaters! Thank you so much for this recipe! The only thing I did different is use coconut oil for the vegan butter in the frosting.
Will definitely make many times in the future!

I made this last night for an Imbolc dessert. I had to make a few subs though, 1/2 cup honey for the brown sugar and steel cut oats instead of rolled. The result was still very good, although the oats were a bit chewy. I just had another piece this morning and it was better- the oats were more tender, I assume because of the humectant factor of the honey. I also didn’t have any of the icing ingredients so I slathered the middle with rose hip jam and topped it with a melted vegan chocolate bar. I would make this again but next time perhaps with the rolled oats or just more wheat flour.

Wow..I have never made a vegan cake and this was delicious! I used AP flour instead of wheat and only needed 1 cup of cashew milk. I used tofutti cream cheese and was skeptical because I was not a fan of it by itself but it turned out to be a good icing when mixed with the powdered sugar and vegan butter. I did not add flour to the icing. Just powdered sugar and tasted until it was sweet enough. Thanks for the recipe!

My non-vegan mom said this cake made her believe in vegan desserts. Thanks for the fantastic recipes!

Made this cake for work holiday party and it was a huge hit with everyone from vegan to lactose intolerant to all the others. Was initially anxious about what pans to use since two round is not really the same as one 8×8. I used 2 8×8 square pans and it was fine. Used parchment paper in the bottom for ease and toasted pecans for the top. It’s definitely a stretch to call this a one bowl recipe – what do you grate the apples into and where do you catch the sifted flour? (hint: more bowls) I had a sink full of dishes by the end, but it was worth it anyway.

Alas, this recipe flopped for me! It ended up WAY too wet and mushy, and refused to bake all the way through even I gave it some extra time in the oven. (Which presented its own problems: because of the apple juice, I think, the outside started to get really brown and crisp even when the inside of the cake was still goo!)

The taste was nice, but the soggy texture made this cake unsalvagable. Bummer. The only thing I can think of is that I didn’t squeeze enough juice out of the apple…though, to be honest, I was dubious about this recipe from the start because 1 1/2 cups of almond milk + 1/2 cup of oil seemed like a LOT of liquid.

This is the very first recipe of yours I’ve tried that didn’t work out, and I see that other people made this cake successfully, so I’ll give it another go at some point! Next time I’ll really wring out the apple and perhaps use a lighter hand with the milk/oil.

My husband made this today so we could have a nice treat after decorating our Christmas tree. We couldn’t wait so we had a slice pre-decorating because it just smelled so amazing! It reminds me of fruit cake but, next level.

I made this cake for my vegan family members for Thanksgiving. I also made the vegan pot pie, including the vegan biscuits, and the mashed potato and cauliflower vegan side dish, all from this website and all in time for Thanksgiving lunch today! They were all delicious, but the cake was a big hit. I am not a particularly good cook, but found these recipes very easy to follow. I would recommend using a food processor for grating the apples as I realized I wasn’t going to have time to do it with the manual grater. I used about 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar to get the icing thick enough, and it was sweet, but yummy! Thank you for such a wonderful resource for vegan cooking!

I had apple butter in the slow cooker and with that smell in my house went searching for a spicy apple dessert. I subbed gluten free flour mix for the flour (adding an additional 1/4 cup as I often do when subbing for wheat flour) and baked the cake in a bundt pan. My son and I both ate a big piece last night and now I have a perfect snack for my fall hike today. This recipe is a keeper!

Another excellent recipe. I subbed 1/4 cup apple sauce for half the oil.

Fantastic! The flavor was amazing! Overall an amazing recipe and I will definitely make again. I gave it 4/5 stars for a two reasons: I used two 9 in cake pans and they were quite thin, but it still worked. It doesn’t specify what size in the recipe so I’m curious, what size do you recommend? And secondly I found it to be almost too moist, almost mushy…but this was not a huge deal. I’m wondering if I didn’t squeeze out enough of the apple juice? This is another thing that would be beneficial to specify in the recipe, how much juice should be squeezed out? (like a measurement) My batter was pretty runny. I made a vegan orange vanilla buttercream frosting with vegan butter, powdered sugar, orange zest and vanilla…which was a huge hit!

I made this for Rosh Hashana and it was a hit. I’m giving it 4 stars instead of 5 for two reasons: first, the cake itself was just a wee bit bland, and second, it was actually almost *too* moist in the center, to the point of almost soggy. Neither of these things kept us from gobbling it up, though! The icing was perfect. I put pecans on the outside just like in the picture. I will definitely make again, but probably play with the spices a bit, and I may try with carrots rather than apples at some point, as well.

I substituted the apples for carrots, came out amazing! Love this cake and so does everyone I’ve made it for.