Fluffy and moist easy vegan apple bread topped with yogurt and caramelized apples. You can also make this bread gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
This apple bread is adapted from my very tried and tested Apple Crumb Cake and my Easy Vegan Apple Muffins.
Why you'll love this recipe
This apple bread is:
- simple and easy
- very moist and melts in your mouth
- FLUFFY
- customizable
- delicious on its own (without any toppings) but amazing topped with yogurt and caramelized apples!
It's perfect for lunch boxes, for work afternoon teas or for bringing to gatherings :).
For more wholesome quick bread recipes, check out my vegan banana blueberry bread and vegan zucchini bread.
Ingredients to make this vegan apple bread
This quick bread uses only common pantry ingredients including:
Notes about the ingredients
Brown, coconut or regular sugar. The apple bread is best complemented by brown and coconut sugar as they have lovely caramel undertones. However, regular sugar will work fine!
Apple which has been coarsely grated or finely chopped. Apple which has been grated any finer will leak too much water and create an overly moist bread. I'd recommend using a sweet snacking apple such as a Fuji or Gala apple.
A complete list of ingredients, quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to prepare this apple bread
Like most of my recipes, all you need to do is mix the DRY ingredients with the WET ingredients. Then BAM, you've made your cake batter! Mixing the ingredients like this will still create a fluffy and moist vegan apple bread :).
You don't have to whisk any aquafaba and there are no special techniques. As you can see below, the batter should be very thick.
Decorating the bread
The apple bread is absolutely delicious by itself! However, if you'd like a little something extra, you can top the bread with:
- coconut yogurt
- vegan buttercream
- simple sugar glaze
- or your choice of frosting
Making caramelized apples for the topping (optional)
I topped my bread with caramelized apples which added a lovely crunch and extra level of flavor. It's also very pretty!
To caramelize the apples, cube one apple and add it to a saucepan with a little sugar over medium heat. Stir the apples occasionally while they cook. If the sugar or apple starts to stick to the pan, add a dash of water!
The longer you cook the apples, the softer and more caramelized the apple pieces will be! The apples are caramelized when they are soft and golden brown.
TIP: don't walk away from the stove while you're caramelizing the apples... because sugar burns easily!
Customizing this recipe
Yes, substitute the plain flour for a blend of almond meal and rice flour. The almond meal helps keep the loaf moist but is denser than regular flour so makes the loaf a little denser. The below loaf was gluten-free and, as you can see, it's still pretty fluffy!
To bake this recipe in a round cake pan, I'd recommend following my apple crumb cake recipe. To bake this recipe as muffins, I'd recommend following my easy vegan apple muffins recipe.
Liquid sweeteners will NOT work well for this recipe. There is already a lot of fruit in this bread and a liquid sweetener will make it even heavier.
Expert Tips
This apple bread is very moist and the baking time will 100% be affected by the amount of juice in your apples, how you cut the apples, the brand of your ingredients, the humidity of your country etc.
At 50 minutes, if your bread isn't baked in the middle or if it's browning too quickly on top, cover it with an oven-proof bowl or aluminum foil and reduce the heat to 160°C (320°F). Bake it UNTIL it's fully cooked through. This is a universal tip that you can use for any recipe!
Your apple bread will be paler than the photos in this post if you used regular granulated sugar. However, if your loaf is unusually pale, check the temperature of your oven as it's probably not hot enough.
More vegan apple recipes
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Easy vegan apple bread
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cups (290g) all-purpose plain flour, (note 1 for gluten free)
- ⅔ cup (105g) coconut sugar, brown sugar or cane sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of any good-quality salt
Wet ingredients
- 1 (~180g) medium-sized apple, grated very coarsely OR chopped finely (note 2)
- 1 cup (250g) dairy-free milk,
- ⅓ cup (85g) light-tasting vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
Topping (optional)
- 1 (~180g) medium-sized apple, core-removed and chopped into cubes
- 1-2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1 cup coconut yogurt or frosting of choice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line an 8-inch (20 cm) loaf pan with parchment paper. (note 3)
To make the vegan apple bread:
- Add all the dry ingredients to a medium-size mixing bowl. Mix until there are no lumps. Add all of the wet ingredients to the bowl and mix until combined. Pour the cake batter into the cake tin.
- Bake the loaf in the oven for 50-70 minutes until you can insert a toothpick in the middle and there is no wet batter on it (some crumbs are fine). If the cake is still uncooked in the middle, cover the loaf with an oven-safe bowl or aluminum foil, turn down the heat and bake until the bread is cooked.
- Allow the bread to rest in the tin for at least 5 minutes. Remove it from the tin and allow it to cool on a wire rack.
To caramelize the apples (optional):
- Add the apples and coconut sugar to a fry pan over medium heat. If the sugar sticks to the pan, add a dash of water. Fry until the apples are golden or your desired softness.
To decorate the apple bread (optional):
- Dollop the coconut yoghurt and apples on top of the cake. Serve as desired.
- The loaf can be stored in an airtight container without the topping at room temperature for 1 day. Alternatively, store the loaf with the topping in the fridge for 3 days or in the freezer up to 1 month.
Notes
- To make this gluten-free, substitute the plain flour with 1 ½ cups (150g) almond meal and 1 cup (160g) fine white rice flour
- This recipe will not work if you grate the apples too finely! Sometimes handheld graters will grate the apple too finely. I used the largest grater attachment of my mini food processor which created apple pieces that resembled very large and dry match sticks. The grated apple shouldn't be 'wet' but if it is, use only ¾ cup (190g) dairy-free milk in the recipe.
- If you prefer a round cake or muffins, I'd recommend following my apple crumb cake recipe or vegan apple muffins recipe. These bake in a shorter amount of time.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in October 2019 and has been updated several times since.
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We have to be gluten-free. So just wondering....in many of your recipes you say to substitute with a gluten-free flour. Just which gluten free flour blend do you use? (I have most all of the !) Being gluten free and vegan both is a toughy with recipes. THANKS
Hi Patricia! The gluten-free flour blend I use includes maize, tapioca, rice flour and xantham gum. It's a common (and cheap) one from my supermarket in Australia and works well when combined with almond flour. With this apple bread, I know that combination works :). Alternatively, a few of my readers have successfully used Bob Red Mills 1:1 flour with many of my recipes. I hope that helps!
The bread itself lacked any good flavour.
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the flavour of this bread, especially as many others did! What type of sugar and apple did you use? I find that using regular sugar and using a non-snacking apple hugely affects the final flavour.
Hello!
I’ve made this one already and it was outstanding!!
I’m making another batch, but realized I’ve ran out of my DF milks. I have canned coconut milk. Have you ever used the white thick coconut milk in your recipes?
Also have you made this Recipe into muffins before? If so how much time did you bake for?
I'm so glad you enjoyed this! Yes, I've baked with the white thick coconut milk. It depends on the fat percentage but I usually use roughly 1-2 tbsp of the thick white cream to 1 cup (240g) water (and mix it before using it in a recipe). If I use the liquid canned coconut milk, I use 2-4 tbsp. It doesn't sound like much but it shows how diluted drinkable coconut milk is!
And yes, I'm actually making this recipe into muffins right now haha! I made 10 muffins and baked it for around 30 minutes. But if you make the standard 12, you'll probably only need to bake it for 20-25 minutes. Hope that helps!
I subbed one cup of the A.P. flour with whole wheat, doubled the cinnamon and added 1/4 cup each pecans and walnuts. Fantastic!
I love your ingredient changes (sounds like what I would do for family) and glad you enjoyed this recipe 🙂
My husband loves it! I used coconut sugar and it worked out great!
Aw, I'm so glad to hear! I prefer the coconut sugar version as well :). Thanks for your feedback x