Apple Juice Cake
This easy apple juice cake recipe is a simple, satisfying bake made with wholemeal flour and gently spiced for a warm, fruity flavour. The apple juice keeps the crumb soft and light, while a scattering of raisins adds little bursts of sweetness throughout. Naturally dairy-free and quick to prepare, it’s a great way to use up leftover apple juice and turn it into a delicious everyday cake.
We’re not great fruit juice drinkers, preferring to drink tea and tisanes, plain water or maybe some kombucha. But we often get gifted bottles of apple juice from friends. This cake is one of the ways I use it. Mulled apple juice is another.
Dive Right In
- Why You’ll Want To Make This Apple Juice Cake
- Wholemeal Apple Juice Cake
- Ingredients, Additions And Substitutions
- How To Make Apple Juice Cake
- Top Tips For The Best Apple Juice Cake
- Other Simple Cake Recipes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- Pin It
- The Recipe
Why You’ll Want To Make This Apple Juice Cake
- Simple pantry ingredients – An easy cake made with everyday ingredients you’re likely to have to hand. No fancy techniques required.
- Great way to use leftover apple juice – If you have a bottle lingering in the fridge, this recipe turns it into something delicious.
- Soft, tender crumb – The apple juice helps create a light, moist texture that keeps the cake soft for days.
- Warm, gentle flavour – Light spices and fruity notes give the cake a comforting flavour without being overly sweet.
- Studded with raisins – Little bursts of sweetness appear throughout the cake, adding texture and extra fruitiness.
- Made with wholemeal flour – Wholemeal flour gives the cake a lovely depth of flavour and a slightly nutty character.
- Naturally dairy-free – Perfect if you’re baking for someone avoiding dairy.
- Quick and easy – A straightforward mix-and-bake recipe that’s ideal for everyday baking.
Wholemeal Apple Juice Cake
There’s something rather satisfying about turning a simple ingredient into a really good cake. This apple juice cake is proof that the most unassuming bakes can be the most rewarding.
Made with wholemeal flour and gently spiced, it has a tender crumb with delicate fruity notes from the juice and the occasional sweet pop of raisin. It’s the kind of easy, everyday cake that comes together quickly, fills the kitchen with a delicious aromas and disappears just as fast.
If you have a bundt tin, so much the better. The shape alone makes the cake stand out. And because you turn it upside down, any imperfections on the top will not be noticed. If not, the cake will work as a traybake or just in an ordinary round cake tin.
Despite being made with fruit juice, it’s quite different to my pineapple juice cake. Though that one is well worth making too.
Ingredients, Additions and Substitutions
Instead of butter, this apple juice cake is made with oil, so it’s naturally dairy-free. The ingredients are all store-cupboard staples apart from the apple juice.
Apple Juice
The more flavoursome your apple juice, the more those fruity notes will come through in the finished bake. Pressed apple juice is generally the best.
I’ve also made this cake with pear juice and a mix of both apple and pear juice. They were both really good. The bake always tastes slightly different depending on the juice you use, but it’s always delicious.
If you wanted to ramp things up a bit, you could swap the apple juice for cider.
Flour
Normally I use wholemeal spelt flour for baking cakes, but the first time I made this one I didn’t have any to hand, so I used plain wholemeal flour instead. It worked so well, I’ve stuck with that ever since.
Oil
I’ve gone with a neutral tasting oil for this bake rather than olive oil, which I don’t feel is the best fit for the flavour profile of this cake. I’ve used both sunflower oil and avocado oil and they both perform well.
Raisins
Sweet juicy raisins add a nice touch to this apple juice cake. I’ve not used many though, as I don’t want to overwhelm the delicious, but “subtle” flavours of the apple juice and spices.
If I run out of raisins, which I did when I made the cake you can see in the images here, I swap them for sultanas.
Spices
A few spice notes really make this cake stand out, but you don’t want too much or the fruity notes from the juice will be lost. I’ve used a little ground ginger, ground cinnamon and ground cloves. If you don’t have any of these, mixed spice or pumpkin spice make fine substitutes.
How To Make Apple Juice Cake
This recipe is for one of those wonderful cakes that are so easy to make you’re unlikely to need an electric mixer. It really is just a matter of a little stirring.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for cooking temperatures and quantities of ingredients used.
Step 1. Whisk
Weigh the flour and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the spices, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt then whisk everything together until combined and lump free. Then whisk in the sugar.
Make a well in the centre, then break the eggs into it. Pour in the oil. Using the whisk or a wooden spoon, stir everything together from the inside out, adding the apple juice a little at a time as you go along.
Once thoroughly mixed, stir in the raisins. Or scatter them over the top of the batter once it’s in the tin to avoid the raisins all sinking to the bottom. See my top tips section below.
Step 2. Bake Cake
Pour the cake into a lightly oiled silicone bundt shaped mould or oiled and floured bundt tin. You can use a 23 cm (9 inch) round cake tin instead or a 23 cm (9 inch) square tin for a flatter traybake style cake.
Place on the middle shelf of your oven and bake for forty five minutes or until the cake is well risen, firm to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out more or less clean. Bake for thirty five minutes before testing if using a square tin.
Let the cake cool for ten minutes, then carefully turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 3. Ice Cake (optional)
In a small bowl, stir the apple juice and icing sugar together. You want a slightly runny icing, so add more apple juice if necessary. But be careful not to make it so runny it will run straight off the cake.
Once the cake is cool, transfer it to a serving plate. Using a spoon, drizzle the icing over the top in whatever pattern you like.
Allow twenty minutes or so for the icing to set, then serve. The cake will stay fresh in an airtight container for four to five days.
Top Tips For The Best Apple Juice Cake
If you follow the recipe, you’ll make a delicious apple juice cake. There are, however, a few tips below which might just make your bake even better.
- Use good quality apple juice
A cloudy apple juice with plenty of flavour works particularly well here, as the taste comes through in the finished cake. - Don’t overmix the batter
Mix only until everything is just combined and there are no patches of flour showing. Over mixing can make the crumb a little heavy rather than soft and tender. - Soak the raisins if they’re very dry
If your raisins feel a bit too firm, soak them in a tablespoon of apple juice for 10–15 minutes before adding them to the batter. This keeps them plump and juicy. - Scatter raisins over top of cake batter
Because the cake batter is quite a runny one, the fruit may sink to the bottom if you mix them directly into the cake. I’ve found the best way to have them studded throughout the cake is to scatter them over the top once the batter is in the tin. Then push some of them down slightly so they’re just under the batter. - Check the bake a little early
Ovens vary, so start checking a few minutes before the end of the baking time. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out more or less clean. - Let the cake cool before slicing
Although it’s tempting to cut into it straight away, letting the cake cool helps the crumb set and makes for neater slices. - Enhance the finish with a simple apple juice icing
A little icing drizzled over the top turns this everyday cake into something a little bit special.
Other Simple Cake Recipes You Might Like
- Caraway seed cake
- Chocolate almond cake
- Lemon curd cake
- Remarkable rhubarb cake
- Sticky banana ginger cake
- Vinegar cake (a light fruit cake)
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this apple juice cake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for using apple juice?
Please rate the recipe too. And do tag me @choclette8 on Instagram with your images, I really enjoy seeing your take on my recipes.
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If you’d like more apple recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Apple Juice Cake. PIN IT.
Apple Juice Cake
Ingredients
- 300 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 pinch fine sea or rock salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 200 g golden caster sugar
- 4 medium eggs
- 150 ml sunflower oil or avocado oil
- 200 ml pressed apple juice
- 50 g raisins or sultanas
Icing
- 50 g icing sugar
- 1 ½ tsp pressed apple juice
Instructions
- Set the oven to 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients until everything is combined and there are no lumps.300 g wholemeal flour (whole wheat), 2 tsp baking powder, 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), 1 pinch fine sea or rock salt, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves
- Whisk in the sugar.200 g golden caster sugar
- Make a well in the centre, then break the eggs into it. Pour in the oil. Stir everything together from the inside out, adding the apple juice a little at a time as you go along.4 medium eggs, 150 ml sunflower oil, 200 ml pressed apple juice
- Once thoroughly mixed, stir in the raisins.50 g raisins
- Pour the cake into a lightly oiled silicone bundt shaped mould or oiled and floured bundt tin.
- Place on the middle shelf of your oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the cake is well risen, firm to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out more or less clean.
- Let the cake cool for ten minutes, then carefully turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Icing
- In a small bowl, stir the apple juice and icing sugar together. You want a slightly runny icing, so add more apple juice as necessary. But be careful not to make it so runny it will run straight off the cake.50 g icing sugar, 1 ½ tsp pressed apple juice
- Once the cake is cool, drizzle the icing over the top in whatever pattern you like.