This low sugar apple cake made with whole wheat flour is not lacking in flavor or moistness (unless you way over bake it 😉). It is full of fresh apples and warm spices. It’s like a spiced apple cake. Serve it warm with ice cream or cooled and frosted.
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This whole wheat apple cake reminds us a lot of carrot cake. It has some of the same spiced flavors and a similar texture, moist and a little more dense, in a good way.
When we have apples to use we have a hard time deciding between this apple cake, or our low sugar apple crisp. You can’t go wrong with either of them.
What's Cool About This Recipe
- Whole grain: This cake is made with 100% whole wheat flour. Using soft white wheat (whole wheat pastry flour) helps keep the cake light and fluffy.
- Moist: The apples and buttermilk in this cake keeps it nice and moist.
- Low sugar: This cake has less sugar than you’ll find in most cakes.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour: Whole wheat flour milled/ground from soft white wheat (whole wheat pastry flour) , spelt or hard white wheat works well in this recipe.
- Sugar: We use organic brown sugar made from raw cane sugar.
- Cinnamon: Just regular ground cinnamon.
- Nutmeg: You can use ground nutmeg, or grind your own from whole nutmeg.
- Baking soda: Make sure your baking soda is fresh.
- Salt: We like to use sea salt.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is great to use with whole wheat flour because it adds a lot of moisture to baked goods.
- Oil: We use olive oil or avocado oil. Whatever oil you use to bake with should work.
- Eggs: Just regular ol’ chicken eggs here.
- Vanilla: Pure vanilla extract is our go to.
- Apples: Grannysmith or honeycrisp are our favorite apples to use.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instruction Photos
Overview of instructions with photos. See recipe card for quantities and full instructions.
Step 1: Stir the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
Step 2: Add the wet ingredients and stir until well combined.
Step 3: Shred the apples, with the peeling on or off, your choice.
Step 4: Fold the apples into the batter.
Step 5: Pour the batter into a greased 9x9 inch baking dish.
Step 6: Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Serving Suggestions
This apple cake is delicious served in a variety of ways:
- Warm with honey butter
- Warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream
- With a dollop of whipped cream (show in the photos)
- Frosted with cream cheese frosting
- Iced with sour cream icing
- We have served this with fresh diced pears and whipped cream, it was amazing.
Storage
Store the cake covered at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the refrigerator for 5-6 days. If the cake has frosting it will need to be refrigerated.
How to Freeze
Wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.
Thaw at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
Tips From Our Kitchen
Don’t be afraid of stirring the batter, whole wheat flour actually benefits from a little vigorous stirring.
The quality of your flour will make or break your cake. Fresh milled flour will always give you the best taste and texture. We recommend grinding your own flour using a grain mill, or buying from a small company that mills small batches. Janie’s Mill has amazing flour.
A lot of soft white wheat flour has large pieces of bran in it, you can sift it out if you like. We have found using an impact burr mill makes a finer flour than a stone mill. Janie’s Mill sells a whole wheat pastry flour that is super fine that we have had great success with.
FAQ
You can absolutely make delicious cake with whole wheat flour. Choosing the right type of flour makes all the difference. The best types of whole wheat flour to use in cakes are soft white wheat flour (whole wheat pastry flour) and spelt flour. Additionally, choosing a high quality flour (fresh milled, or as fresh as possible) is just as important as choosing the right type of flour.
The best apples to use in a cake are crisp and more tart apples such as, granny smith, honey crisp, gala and even fuji or pink lady are good options.
More Low Sugar Recipes
📖 Recipe
Low Sugar Apple Cake (whole wheat)
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) soft white wheat flour whole wheat pastry flour
- ⅔ cup (140 g) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup (240 g) buttermilk
- ½ cup (108 g) olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 medium apples granny smith or honey crisp
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the center or upper third position.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together 2 cups (240 g) soft white wheat flour, ⅔ cup (140 g) brown sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg and ½ teaspoon sea salt.
- Add 1 cup (240 g) buttermilk, ½ cup (108 g) olive oil, 2 large eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, mix until well combined.
- Shred 2 medium apples on a box grater (peel the apples first if desired), fold the apples into the batter.
- Pour the batter into a buttered 9x9 inch baking dish.
- Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool before frosting or serve warm with desired toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
We calculate these nutritional facts using an estimate and they can vary drastically between ingredients used and measuring technique. So, they are not intended for medical use.
Did you make this recipe? We would love to hear from you!