This tender and delicious apple bundt cake is made with almond and cassava flour, but even your pickiest eaters won’t ever suspect that it’s totally grain free, gluten free, and paleo-friendly!
This showstopper of a cake is super simple to throw together, especially if you have an abundance of apples. Better yet, my paleo version tastes like a “real” gluten-packed bundt cake, with a moist and tender crumb dotted with apples and infused with cinnamon.
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Paleo and gluten-free apple bundt cake!
When autumn rolls around, I start dreaming about uncomplicated apple and cinnamon infused treats, and this paleo cake made with almond and cassava flour hits the spot!
I modified my Berry Snack Cake recipe to create this fall-inspired paleo dessert that’s pretty enough for company. Although I prefer using lactose-free ghee in this recipe, softened coconut oil or palm shortening also works great if you prefer a dairy-free version.
What are the best apples for baking?
To make sure the apple slices don’t dissolve completely into the baked apple bundt cake batter, choose an apple variety that holds its shape during the baking process. Some of the best baking apples are Jonagold, Honeycrisp, Mutsu, Braeburn, Pink Lady, Gala, and Granny Smith apples. Feel free to mix and match the varieties, too!
Can you substitute other ingredients?
Yes, I know I’ve been baking more paleo desserts lately, but that doesn’t make me a paleo baking expert. I’m not sure if you can use an egg substitute or use another flour in place of almond flour or cassava flour in this apple bundt cake recipe because I haven’t tried out all the different possible permutations. But if you have success with any ingredient substitutions, please let us all know in the comments section below!
Where’s the glaze?
I know most bundt cakes are topped with an icing or glaze, but I think this apple cake tastes perfectly sweet unadorned. It may be an Asian thing where we don’t love super sweet desserts, but give it a try, ’kay?
UPDATE: I have since created an amazing paleo and vegan cream cheese frosting that works perfectly with this apple bundt cake!
Ingredients
- Apples: My favorite kinds to use in this cake are Granny Smith, Jonagold, Honeycrisp, Mutsu, Braeburn, Pink Lady, or Gala apples.
- Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- Finely ground almond flour
- Cassava flour
- Ground cinnamon
- Baking soda
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Ghee, coconut oil, or palm shortening, softened: Yes, you can use butter if you tolerate it.
- Maple sugar or coconut sugar: Both of these sugars are good brown sugar substitutes!
- Large eggs
- Full-fat canned coconut milk
- Vanilla extract
How to make apple bundt cake
Heat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle. Lightly grease the sides and bottom of a 10-inch non-stick bundt pan with some ghee, coconut oil, or avocado oil.
Use the large holes of a grater or food processor to shred half of the apples.
Use a sharp knife to thinly chop the other half into small thin rectangles, about the size of your thumbnail.
Place the apples in a large bowl and toss with the apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
In a separate medium bowl, combine the flours, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
Whisk the dry ingredients together, and set the bowl aside.
Plop the softened ghee (or coconut oil) and maple sugar (or coconut sugar) in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl if you are using a hand mixer.
Use the paddle attachment to blend the mixture on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes or until lighter in color and fluffy.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and pour in the eggs, coconut milk, and vanilla.
Beat the mixture on medium speed for 30 seconds or until combined.
Next, add half the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until combined.
Slowly add the rest of the flour and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in any dry flour with a spatula.
Carefully fold the apples into the batter.
Transfer the batter to the greased bundt pan and smooth the top.
Pop the pan in the oven.
Bake until the cake is golden brown and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 70 minutes.
Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes.
Invert the cake on a wire rack and remove the pan.
Cool the apple bundt cake completely, about two hours.
Slice up and enjoy!
How do you store the cake?
You can keep this apple bundt cake in a sealed container or tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at cool room temperature for up to two days. However, because the cake is very moist, I like to store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to five days or in the freezer for a few months. You can thaw the frozen cake overnight in the fridge and take the cake out an hour before serving it to bring to room temperature.
More paleo apple dessert recipes
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Apple Bundt Cake (Paleo, Gluten Free, Grain Free)
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds apples peeled and cored. Granny Smith, Jonagold, Honeycrisp, Mutsu, Braeburn, and Pink Lady are good baking apple varieties.
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 2 cups finely ground almond flour
- 1½ cups cassava flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 cup ghee softened (or coconut oil or palm shortening)
- 1⅓ cup maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- ⅔ cup full-fat coconut milk at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle. Lightly grease the sides and bottom of a 10-inch non-stick bundt pan with some ghee, coconut oil, or avocado oil.
- Use the large holes of a grater or food processor to shred half of the apples and use a sharp knife to thinly chop the other half into small thin rectangles, about the size of your thumbnail.
- Place the apples in a bowl and toss with the apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
- In medium bowl, whisk together flours, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Plop the softened ghee (or coconut oil) and maple sugar (or coconut sugar) in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl if you are using a hand mixer.
- Use the paddle attachment to blend the mixture on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes or until lighter in color and fluffy.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs, coconut milk, and vanilla. Beat the mixture on medium speed for 30 seconds or until combined.
- Next, add half the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Slowly add the rest of the flour and mix until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in any dry flour with a spatula.
- Carefully fold the apples into the batter with a silione spatula.
- Transfer the batter to the greased bundt pan and smooth the top.
- Pop the pan in the oven and bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 70 minutes.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. Invert the cake on a wire rack and cool completely, about two hours. Slice and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- For the best results, weight out your dry ingredients with a kitchen scale. Hit the metric button to get the gram measurements for dry ingredients.
- You can keep the apple bundt cake in a sealed container at cool room temperature for up to two days. However, because the cake is very moist, I prefer to store it in a sealed container in the fridge for up to five days or in the freezer for a few months. You can thaw the frozen cake overnight in the fridge.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Michelle, do you think I could use all cassava flour? I have an almond allergy.
A few folks have said cashew flour works well!
just made this. Took me much longer to prep but it smells amazing. I had to sub a lot of things so my end result is somewhat irrelevant here. Hope it tastes good though. Thanks for the inspiration
Whole family loved it! It’s delicious!! I subbed cashew flour for the almond, & used coconut sugar rather than maple. Came out wonderful.
Made this today and it was a huge hit! I used Tapioca Flour instead of Cassava Flour (equal measurement) and honey crisp apples. Thank you so much for the recipe and helping us to get in the fall spirit 🍁
Also I didn’t have a Bundt pan so I used three mini loaves and a 9 x 6 baking dish (which did much better than the loaf pans).
I made this and it tastes delicious. Prep time is much longer than 15 minutes as others have said. My cake however does not slice but crumbles. I did not bake 70 minutes but longer than 55. I removed the cake from the oven as the sides were separated from the Bundt pan.
A question that I feel like I should already know: can I substitute maple syrup for maple sugar?
I haven’t tried it! I’m not sure if you need to decrease a little liquid to compensate for the syrup…
This recipe took awhile to make but was worth it! The family enoyed it without a glaze!
It smells wonderful and tastes delicious but mine fell apart coming out of the pan. I baked in a Bundt pan greased with coconut oil for 60 minutes. Inserted a skewer and it came out clean. Cooled in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. When I went to invert it on the cooling rack, the top half stayed stuck to the pan. What did I do wrong? I’ve stayed away from my Nordicware Bundt pan because it’s disappointing to put in the time and effort for mess. I was hoping this time would be different. We will still enjoy it
Sounds like your bundt pan is not as non-stick as it could be! How frustrating!
I had a similar problem! My bundt pan has never caused me problems, and the parts that initial stuck actually fell out onto the broken cake. I cooked it for 70 minutes, and when it just completely fell apart. I think the almond flour volume is the problem, because the recipe doesn’t provide a weight and almond flour quantity varies a lot when measured by volume.
Weight measurements are in the recipe card—just hit “metric” under the ingredients.
OMG, this is delicious! I don’t have a bundt pan, but I have a mini angel food cake pan that makes 6 small cakes, so I used that and gave it about 40 minutes. I had leftover batter, so I also made some mini muffins. This would also make regular muffins, or any shape you want! Everyone loves it.
Happy belated Birthday!
I made this cake recipe two days in a row. I’m not a baker at heart though I love cooking. It took a long time to make the first time and my kitchen was a big mess. I was cursing the whole time. HOWEVER, the cake was delicious. So, I decided to make it again the next day to ‘tame the monster’. I was much more organized, and since I had already returned the borrowed bundt pan, I used my angel food cake pan…….probably for the second time in many, many years. Again, it turned out beautifully. I like the angel food pan better as it is easier to clean. The loaf pan is a great idea, too. By the way, I froze most of it.
This recipe goes faster if you have the right kitchen appliances and get organized before beginning. Actually, dont they all? But this one really requires being organized. I also cut back to one cup of coconut sugar which still seemed like a lot to us, but it was lovely. I used local Honey Crisp apples that were huge so three were plenty. I used my food processor to grate and then I used the chopping blade to roughly chop the other half.
This is a wonderful cake.
Thanks!