Easy Vegan Spiced Apple Cake

Inspired by other simple, old-fashioned bakes like my sultana loaf and rock cakes, my vegan apple spice cake is so simple to whip up, lasts ages in the tin, and has such a delicious flavour.

This cake looks deceptively plain, and dare I say it, a bit dry. Like all the best fruit cakes, it certainly isn't a moist, sticky cake, but more reminiscent of a farmhouse fruitcake, which is one of my favourites. Lighter than a regular fruitcake, the sponge is a simple white sponge, suspending juicy sultanas in its thrall.

It reminds me of the kind of cake that my nan loved, a lighter fruitcake with lots of juicy sultanas. This was the kind of cake that, as a child, I would have ignored, choosing a rich, heavily iced slice of chocolate or coffee cake instead. But nowadays my tastes are a little simpler, and this just hits the spot.

You could make a light sugar icing for this cake if you wanted to fancy it up a bit; I think a lemon water icing would be delicious! Or you could sprinkle some demerara sugar on the top before baking.

• applesauce. I use this unsweetened one.
• plain flour
• vegan butter
• sugar
• cinnamon and ground nutmeg
• sultanas

(This is ONLY a list of ingredients for the recipe; please see recipe card below for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

Cream the butter and sugar together

Add the applesauce

Sift in the flour and spices

Fold in the sultanas

Hint: I cover the sultanas with a little boiling water (2-3tbsp) whilst I make the cake batter. This allows the sultanas to plump up, but more importantly, it stops them sinking to the bottom of the cake.

• Sultanas - feel free to use raisins, glace cherries, currants or even dried cranberries
• Flour - use gluten free self-raising white flour instead of white to make this gluten free

This cake originally required a 7" cake tin, although I have used an 8" tin (you will have a slightly more shallow cake, and remember to reduce the cooking time) because 7" tins are quite hard to come by these days.

This cake lasts for quite a while! At least 5 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

You can freeze this cake once baked and cooled. Wrap in two layers of clingfilm, followed by a layer of tinfoil. To defrost, remove all the layers and thaw at room temperature.

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Comforting and Cosy Vegan Apple Crumble

Vegan Quince and Cardamom Loaf

Easy and Delicious Vegan Sultana Loaf

Easy Vegan Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.