How to make Sugar-Free Vegan Cinnamon Apple Cake

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This Vegan Cinnamon Apple Cake is large, fluffy and ever-so-cinnamony. It is decadently topped with a thick, creamy coconut frosting. You would never guess that this delicious dessert has no butter, milk, eggs or sugar!

What Ingredients do you need for Vegan Cinnamon Apple Cake?

This Vegan Cinnamon Apple Cake has no queer or expensive ingredient, which is the ultimate aim of Simply Home and Health Recipes. I want to have Healthy treats that don’t cost an arm and a leg.

Probably the wackiest thing you will find in this cake batter is Sourdough Discard, and even that is not wacky anymore, thanks to the pandemic making sourdough baking go viral!

• Flour – I only buy high grade flour, so I use this in all my cakes. All-purpose flour has lower gluten and is better for cakes, but the bread flour I use is perfectly fine.
• Apples – I used sweet gala apples for this cake, but I would recommend a more robust apple such as granny smith, for a deeper apple flavour.
• Sourdough discard – just a cup, and this can ferment the flour for over 7 hours to break down the phytates and tenderise the cake crumb.
• Water – for the pre-ferment mixture (to break down the phytates in the flour).
• Oil – a fat component is essential for a fluffy cake. I am using oil to keep this cake vegan, plus oil-based cakes can be stored in the fridge without drying out.
• Truvia – to sweeten the cake. Truvia is a stevia/erythritol based sweetener which is 3 times sweeter than normal white sugar.
• Cinnamon – be heavy-handed with the cinnamon. It complements the apple flavour very nicely, and I find it gives the cake a richer, deeper, almost caramelly flavour.
• Salt – essential for bringing out the sweetness in any baked good.
• White or cider vinegar – reacts with the baking soda to leaven the cake
• Baking powder and baking soda – to make the cake go boom!
• Rum or vanilla essence – for rounder flavour.

If I’m using Sourdough Discard, Do I Have to Use Baking Powder?

Using Sourdough Discard in cakes does not replace the baking soda or baking powder. The sourdough discard is not a leavening agent. It’s purpose in the cake is to tenderise the crumb…and to replace other liquid ingredients such as milk, to give the cake a better nutrient profile.

Using sourdough discard in cakes also means that you can pre-ferment the flour for seven hours (although, this is not absolutely necessary), which will make the cake a lot easier on your digestive system.

Do I have to ferment the Cake mixture?

No, a cake using sourdough discard does not need to be fermented. You can simply mix and bake.

The reason I ferment the flour is because I know that pure white flour is highly processed and not that great for your health. Fermenting it helps to improve the nutrient profile (or at least make it less bad for you).

How to Sweeten a Refined Sugar-Free Vegan Cake:

A refined sugar-free cake can be sweetened in many ways:

• Coconut Sugar – use on a 1:1 ratio replacement to normal sugar
• Date paste or syrup – use on a 1:1 ratio replacement to normal sugar, but you will need to increase the dry ingredients or reduce other liquid ingredients so that your cake batter is not overly wet.
• Banana still not as sweet as sugar, I would use this in combination with a stronger sweetener such as stevia. The mashed banana will add the texture to the batter, and the stevia will bring the sweetness.
• Stevia – this is potent stuff, and cannot be used as a complete replacement for sugar in a cake. Cake needs the quantity of sugar granules for the texture and bulk of the batter. Best used in combination with fruit puree.
• Xylitol – use on a 1:1 ratio replacement to normal sugar. There is no need to reduce or increase any other ingredients.
• Erythritol – use on a 1:1 ratio replacement to normal sugar. There is no need to reduce or increase any other ingredients.
• Apple Puree – still not as sweet as sugar, I would use this in combination with a stronger sweetener such as stevia. The Apple Puree will add the texture to the batter, and the stevia will bring the sweetness.
• Honey – use on a 1:1 ratio replacement to normal sugar, but you will need to increase the dry ingredients or reduce other liquid ingredients so that your cake batter is not overly wet.

My favourite sweetener for cakes is Truvia, which is an Erythritol/Stevia blend. Because it is 3 times the sweetness of regular sugar, you only need about 1 cup for a large, 23 cm diameter cake, such as this one. Therefore, it is more cost effective than using pure erythritol or pure xylitol.

How to make and bake a Vegan Cinnamon Apple Cake (using sourdough discard):

The Night Before:

1. Make the pre-ferment: Mix the flour, oil, starter, grated apple and water in a bowl. Cover, and leave to prove overnight (or a minimum of 7 hours).

In the Morning:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line a 22cm loose-bottomed cake tin with baking paper.
2. To the pre-ferment mixture, add the remaining ingredients. Be sure not to over-mix, because this disrupts the carbonation process (aka: ruins the fluffy texture).
3. Pour into the prepared cake tin, and place in the centre rack of the oven.
4. Bake for 75 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

How to Serve the Vegan Cinnamon Apple Cake:

This Vegan Cinnamon Apple Cake is perfectly delicious un-iced, and smothered in lashings of whipped cream (that part isn’t Vegan…but there is simply no better alternative to whipped cream on cake).

It would be utterly amazing with a warm butterscotch sauce.

My go-to, though, for the creamy element (that is also vegan) is to ice it with a thick, coconut cream frosting. I sweetened the frosting for this Cinnamon Apple Cake with dates and it is spiced with a mixture of cinnamon, anise, cloves and nutmeg.

It was sublime! And I have to say, this cake did not last long enough!

Like Vegan Sourdough Cakes? Here’s a few more to try:

• Caramel Latte Cake
• Carrot Cake
• Spiced Zucchini Cake
• Chocolate Cake
• Peanut Butter Cheesecake