Soft and fluffy Vegan Caramel Apple Sheet Cake is a moist apple studded cake, filled with caramel sauce and topped with a spiced buttercream, decorative apples and caramel drizzle. It’s a favourite fall apple dessert that’s vegan, egg-free, dairy-free and easy to make!
This incredible recipe has been made in collaboration with Natures Charm. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. (For more information along with affiliated links, check out my disclosure policy.)
Vegan Caramel Apple Sheet Cake
If you cross caramel apple with an apple sheet cake you’d get something like this delicious dessert! It’s a super moist and lightly spiced cake filled with fresh apple in every bite. It’s even topped with a whipped buttercream, piped apples and finished with a caramel drizzle which is divine.
Caramel + apples + cake = complete dessert perfection. The aroma that fills your kitchen / HOUSE as this cake bakes is pure perfection. Light spices waft through the air, making your whole house smell like a fall candle. Add the caramel on top and this is a dream combination!
If you love caramel apple, be sure to check out my Vegan Caramel Apple Cookies, The BEST Vegan Caramel Sauce, Vegan Caramel Apple Crumble Bars and Vegan Caramel Apple Muffins. Perfect for Fall baking.
Why you’ll love this Vegan Caramel Apple Sheet Cake:
- Vegan friendly – This recipe doesn’t contain any animal derived ingredients.
- Easy to make – It’s super quick to make, and being only 1 layer.. easy to decorate too.
- Full of apples – The sponge is jam-packed with fresh chunks of fresh apples, delicious!
- Perfectly spiced – This recipe uses ground spices which create a cozy and warming sponge cake.
- Super soft – The sponge is light and tender with a gorgeous crumb.
- Perfectly sweet – Topped with a whipped cream buttercream, it’s the perfect contract of sweet and spiced.
- Perfect for occasion – This cake is perfect for parties, special occasions or to serve for a cozy, fall night in.
- It’s a crowd pleaser – Trust me, anyone who you serve this too will be very impressed!
What are the best apples for baking?
For best results, you want to use an apple that will hold up during baking and won’t become mushy. Having the apples soft but with a slight crisp texture is absolutely delicious! Here is what personally recommend:
- Granny Smith (My personal favourite and the apples I use).
- Honey Crisp.
- Pink Lady.
Ingredients you’ll need:
This caramel apple cake uses ingredients which you possibly already have in your kitchen / pantry. if not, I’ve listed what ingredients you’ll need below! Jot them down on your shopping list and grab them during your next grocery shop!
- Dairy-free milk: You can use any dairy-free milk including almond, cashew or oat but soya milk works best in vegan cakes.
- Apple cider vinegar
- Caster sugar : Use fine, white sugar for this recipe.
- Self raising flour : Helps to give the cake rise and keeps it light & fluffy.
- Ground cinnamon, nutmeg & ginger : Perfect cozy, Autumnal spices which make the cake flavourful and warming.
- Baking powder & bicarbonate of soda : Adds a little extra rise to the cake making it tender and fluffy.
- Sunflower oil : This is the best oil for baking as its flavour neutral and wont effect the overall flavour of the bake.
- Chopped apples
- Natures Charm Sweetened Condensed Oat Milk
- Dairy-free block butter : make sure to use a chilled block butter. Margarine will make the buttercream too soft and may cause it to split.
- Light brown sugar : Adds a delicious richness to the caramel.
- Natures Charm Oat Whipping Cream
- Icing sugar : Make sure to sift the powdered sugar before use to remove any lumps or clumps.
- red & green food gel : Be sure the food gel you use is vegan friendly. My personal favourites are Rainbow Dust Colours. Their entire Pro Jel range is vegan!
Ingredient spotlight – Natures Charm
I am SO excited to partner with Natures Charm to bring you this delicious caramel apple cake! I’ve used and loved Natures Charm for years. I absolutely ADORE their condensed milks, creams and evaporated milk, and especially their dessert sauces – so yummy!
I wanted to showcase their amazing Oat Range! If you’re on the look out for a delicious vegan condensed milk, you gotta try this. This condensed milk is seriously the BEST and is delicious, vegan, gluten-free and soy-free. It has a gorgeous, natural sweetness to it, which makes it perfect for baking with and adding extra flavours to your recipes / bakes! When it comes to making caramel, you need a good quality and delicious vegan condensed milk. Pair this condensed milk along with some vegan butter and sugar and you have the most incredible, thick and gooey vegan caramel, or as I like to call it, liquid gold.
I poked holes in the baked cake and used this caramel to fill the cake and also drizzle on top of the delicious buttercream. Speaking of the buttercream, this has a special ingredient, Oat Whipping Cream.
I LOVE this whipping cream. Vegan cream is hard to come across so I was really excited when Natures Charm brought out their own oat based cream. It’s thick, creamy with a really lovely flavour to it. I whipped up the cream and added it to the buttercream. Doing this, makes for a super light, whippy and fluffy frosting which pairs beautifully with the spiced cake. The contract of textures and flavours is seriously good!
All of their products are 100% vegan and delicious. They can be found online and in-store, such as Amazon and Holland and Barrett.
How to make a Vegan Caramel Apple Sheet Cake
This cake is super easy to make, and is likely to impress anyone you serve it too. There are a few layers to this cake, but don’t worry, ill talk you through it! Don’t forget, you can find the full written recipe card including ingredients and measurments in the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Cake batter
Mix the milk and vinegar together to create a buttermilk. In a separate bowl, add in the sugar, flour, spices, raising agents. Add the oil to the buttermilk, then pour into the dry ingredients and mix. Fold in the apple.
- Bake
Pour the batter into the lined tin and bake until golden or a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean and it’s springy to the touch.
- Caramel
Pour all the caramel ingredients into a saucepan and cook until the caramel thickens. Allow to cool.
Poke holes in the cake and pipe in the caramel sauce. - Buttercream
Whip the cream and butter in a bowl then add in the icing sugar and spice. Whip until thick and creamy.
Transfer some buttercream into 2 separate bowl, colour some with red food gel and a really small amount with green food gel. - Decoration
Spread the white buttercream over the cake, and transfer the red and green buttercream into piping bags. Pipe the apples. Add some caramel into a piping bag, snip off the tip and drizzle over the top of the cake.
Serve and enjoy!
If you make, and love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below. Thank you & happy baking! Make sure to tag me in your photos on Instagram, Facebook & TikTok! And if you want to pin this recipe for later, you can use the button on the recipe card, above or below this post, or on any of the photos. Happy baking all!
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Vegan Caramel Apple Sheet Cake
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 10 1x
Description
Vegan Caramel Apple Sheet Cake with a lightly spiced apple sponge, caramel sauce and spiced frosting. Perfect for Fall.
Ingredients
Ingredients for the cake
- 250ml of dairy-free milk
- 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
- 100g of caster sugar
- 250g of self raising flour
- 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons of ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
- 70ml of sunflower oil
- 100g of chopped apple
Ingredients for the caramel
- 320g of Natures Charm sweetened condensed oat milk
- 135g dairy-free block butter
- 50g of light brown sugar
Ingredients for the frosting
- 80g of Natures Charm Oat Whipping Cream
- 100g of dairy-free butter
- 230g of icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- Splash of dairy-free milk if needed
- Red food gel
- Green food gel
Instructions
Method (cake)
- Preheat your oven to 180ºC fan and line an 8 x 8 inch square cake tin with greaseproof paper. Allow the paper to hang over the tin slightly, this makes it easier to remove the cake when baked.
- In a bowl, combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined. Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle. This creates a vegan ‘buttermilk’.
- In a large mixing bowl, sift the sugar, flour, ground spices, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well to combine. Add the oil into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just to combine. Fold in the chopped apple.
- Spoon the batter into the lined tin. Level it out with the back of a spoon or offset spatula.
- Place the cake into the middle of the preheated oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes. You will know it is done when you put a knife or skewer down the middle of the cake and it comes out clean and it’s springy to the touch. If batter comes off on the skewer, it needs more time to bake. To prevent burning, top the cake with some greaseproof paper then return back into the oven.
- Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then carefully transfer onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool fully before frosting. You can even place the cake in a sealed container once cool then frost the day after. It’s a very light sponge so be careful with it when removing from the tin.
Method (caramel)
- Add all of the caramel ingredients into a medium-sized saucepan. Place on the hob, heat the caramel on low / medium, stirring all the time until it turns a amber colour. This will take approximately 15-20 minutes. You want the caramel to be thick enough that when you stir it, it coats the back of a spoon / spatula. You don’t want to cook it so it reaches soft or hard ball stages so it will become like toffee and will be impossible to pipe.
- Once ready, pour the caramel into a heat proof bowl and set aside for it to cool down. It can be kept in the refrigerator.
- Transfer the caramel into a piping bag and snip off the tip.
- Poke holes in the cake using the base / handle of a wooden spoon and pipe in some of the caramel.
Method (buttercream)
- In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter and oat whipping cream, whip until creamy. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, a hand mixer will work great too.
- Sift in the icing sugar and ground cinnamon. Whip on high speed for around 5 minutes to incorporate it. Add a splash of dairy-free milk if needed. If the buttercream is too thick, add some more chunks of butter. If it’s too soft, add more icing sugar. You want it smooth, creamy and airy.
- Dollop or pipe some of the white buttercream on top and spread out until even using an off-set spatula or pallet knife.
- Transfer some buttercream in to 2 separate bowls. Colour one with red good jel and a small amount with green food gel. Transfer into separate piping bags with round tip nozzles, or simple snip off the tips.
- Use the red buttercream to pipe little apple shapes around the cake in a scattered pattern. Use the green buttercream to pipe on some leafs.
- Drizzle some left over caramel on top of the cake.
- Slice and enjoy!
Notes
To store: Keep this cake stored in a sealed container in the fridge. Leave at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving. Best eaten within 3 days of making. Un-iced cake can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for 2 days. Always stored iced cakes (especially with cream cheese frosting) in the fridge.
What dairy-free butter to use? My favourites are Naturli Vegan Block and Flora Plant Based Block Butter. All work amazingly in vegan buttercream!
What dairy-free cream cheese to use? My favourites are Violife Original Flavour Creamy and supermarkets own branded vegan cream cheese.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
- Category: Cakes and layer cakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
