This low fat apple cake is super moist, flavorful and delicious! Plus, it’s really low in calories because there’s no butter or oil. Only 116 calories per slice… that means you can enjoy more of it!
Jam packed with juicy apples, which add both moisture and flavor, and subtly sweet, this cake makes for a delicious and healthy breakfast or snack simply sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Do you want to turn it into a decadent dessert? Serve it warm with a scoop of cinnamon or vanilla ice cream and caramel drizzled on top! YUM!
If you’re looking for something light, soft, with a tender crumb, give this low fat apple cake a go. You won’t be disappointed and it will be your new favorite in no time!
It’s a very easy recipe: the most tedious part is peeling and slicing the apples! But it’s well worth it. 🙂
You can toss the apple slices in a little lemon juice to keep them from oxidizing, but, since you’ll be baking them and they will brown in the oven, it’s not necessary.
I used Golden Delicious apples, but feel free to use any baking apple you like.
Just before baking, don’t forget to sprinkle some extra sugar on top… it will give them a nice, sweet crunch.
The recipe is adapted from the book “La buona cucina di casa” written by Simili sisters.
Low Fat Apple Cake
This easy low-fat apple cake is super moist, flavorful and delicious! Only 116 calories per slice.
Ingredients
- 1.54 lb (700 grams) apples Golden Delicious or Granny's Smith
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon (90 grams) light brown sugar or granulated sugar
- zest of 1 lemon grated
- a pinch of salt
- 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon (110 grams) all-purpose flour sifted
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon (75 ml) low-fat milk
- 3 teaspoons (12 grams) baking powder
- Optional: sugar to sprinkle on top and icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).
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Grease and flour a 22 cm (8.5 inch) pan and set aside.
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Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples.
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Place the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, and beat until thick and creamy.
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Add the flour, baking powder, and milk, and beat until well combined.
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Add two thirds of the apples to the batter and mix with a wooden spoon or a spatula.
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Place the batter in the prepared pan.
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Arrange the remaining apple slices over the top of the batter.
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Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of brown sugar (optional).
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Bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
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Dust the low fat apple cake with powdered sugar before serving.
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Enjoy it!
Notes
© as easy as Apple Pie. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe
I want to eat the whole thing and would not feel guilty, love it.
It looks absolutely perfect and if it is low fat then it is double the pleasure without guilt!
This cake looks amazing Elena. I am just going to sit back and drool a bit 🙂
This is a the best Apple Cake I have ever seen. I like the use use of Granny Smith Apples.
I love apple cake,looks delicious!
Thank you Nettie! 🙂
This cake is so beautiful! It sounds so delicious, too!
Thank you very much Nicole! 🙂
This looks delicious. My whole family would love it!
Thank you Jillian!
This is one gorgeous looking cake, love it!
What?!? Only 116 calories per slice! Yay! I could eat the whole amazing cake and not feel guilty 🙂
This is beautiful! What a classy, tasty cake!
Simply delicious! What a wonderful way to end a meal – yum!
I love a classic apple cake. And you really have done it justice here – love that it’s so healthy too!
Thank you Thalia! 🙂
Apples in themselves make sweet, tasty healthy treats. I love that you managed to find a way to combine these with a healthy cake. As a bonus, the cake is a beauty.
Thank you Lynn! 🙂
This looks divine, I will most definitely have a go at this soon! Just one questions: on how many slices is the nutritional value based?
Thank you Kim! The nutritional values are for a 97 grams slice
How many slices does the recipe make?
More or less 10/11 slices
it looks amazing but it dose not have butter or oil in it… it wont stick or it would have a bread texture?
Thank you Alia! You have to spray or butter the pan. It’s a very moist cake, not at all like a bread.:)
great idea!! can’t wait to make this recipe, just one question… how many slices per cake?
Carolina you will get more or less 10/11 slices per cake 🙂
Absolutely beautiful.
This cake looks delicious & perfect for fall. And I just picked up apples at the farmers market today!
Dear Elena, what a stunning cake! I wouldn’t mind having this for breakfast tomorrow with tea. What a delightful treat. xo, Catherine
Thank you Catherine! 🙂
Cake looks so delicious and I can enjoy this cake guilt free
So delicious and healthy too…bonus. I didn’t use the full amount of apples though, just 460. Was sure if the oven temperature was for fan oven so I set it a bit lower but it worked out just fine…… Many thanks
Hi Alison! I am glad you liked it.:) I use a normal oven…which temperature did you put?
I made this today, it was delicious. I swapped half the flour to whole meal and added a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of sultanas, as I didn’t have quite enough apple. I’m going to do again and try and reduce the sagar, using sweetener and some honey, which will mean it would be a good treat for my diabetic dad. Thanks!
Thank you for your feedback, I am glad you enjoyed it 🙂
This was delightfully good! I used Fuji apples. Substituted honey (lowered the temp to 325F and baked longer for 45mins), whole wheat flour, and almond milk. And even if I didn’t have any lemons on hand (hence, no zest), it still tasted really good. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I am glad you liked it! 🙂
Hi Elena if I used sweetener instead of sugar would you know the ratio.
Hi John! You can check this page
I hope it helps! 🙂
Hi Elena,
The cake looks lovely! As we are only 2 at home, I wanted to bake a smaller cake. I have a 6″ cake pan, should I cut the recipe in half?
Thanks
Yes, that will per perfect!:)
Hey, I was wondering, could I make this vegan if I used flax eggs instead of regular eggs? Really want to try this recipe, looks delish!
Sorry, I have never used flax eggs. Let us know if you give it a try! 🙂
We love the taste of this Apple Cake! Made it twice. But we needed to reduce the number of apples to have the batter cover them (as shown in your picture) before arranging remaining slices and baking. Do you use extra large eggs?. Approximately how many minutes do you beat the eggs, sugar, lemon zest? And how thinly do you slice the apples? We baked it for approximately 40 min and the apples are not quite cooked. Is that how they are supposed to be?
Hi Claire! I use large eggs (weighing approximately 60 grams with the shell). I beat the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest for 10 minutes, until the mixture is thick and creamy. I slice the apples 1/8 inch thick.
Try to cook it for a little bit longer…every oven if different. Check with a toothpick inserted into the center before removing it from the oven. If it’s not ready but too brown on top, cover with aluminum foil.
Let me know how it goes! 🙂
This looks so pretty! Love the powdered sugar on top! What a great recipe!
Thank you, Eden! 🙂
Gorgeous! I made this for Easter with a cinnamon topping and lowfat buttermilk. The lemon zest is a beautiful hint of flavor. Simply divine, thank you!
Carrie, I saw your cake on Instagram…it looks beautiful! 🙂 I am glad you like the recipe.
I am counting calories and am a real a mature when it comes to serving sizes, so excuse me if this sounds dumb but if I make it exactly like you how many servings does it make?
Carolyn, you should get more or less 11 slices
Loved the Cake. The simplest,best and healthiest I ever tried. I will do it every week 🙂
Thank you!
Thank you for your feedback, Dorianne! I am glad you liked it. This is one of my favorite recipes 🙂
I made this delicious dessert for a BBQ and added some sliced almonds on the top. I served it with vanilla ice cream too! An absolute delight. I’ll definitely make this again.
I’m so glad you loved it, Jennifer!
I made this but added some vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. I also used three egg whites and one whole egg. It turned out fantastic. Thank you for the recipe.
Thanks so much for your feedback, Karen! Love the idea of vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. So happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
Very tasty for a low fat dessert, and super easy to make. I find it hard to believe that it works out so well, when there’s no shortening at all. Mine didn’t rise very well, but it may have been because I covered the top entirely in the left over apple slices. It looked great, and as I mentioned, it was very tasty.
I am glad you enjoyed it, Sally! Thank you for your feedback.
Please post how much vanilla cinnamon and nutmeg you added and when. Thank you!
I do not have a scale to weigh the apples. Approximately how many apples do I need for this recipe?
Hi Theressa! You need 3 or 4 medium apples
Thank you, Elena!
thank you for sharing can,t wait to try I love apples
I hope you will love it! Let me know how it goes 🙂
Hi,
This looks great. I am wondering what I could replace the sugar with? Honey, Agave? And, how much do I use?
Thank you in advance
Hi Belinda! Unfortunately, I have never tried it with honey or agave. If you try, please let me know how it comes out!
I made this yesterday and it is delicious! I can’t wait to make it again. Thanks for sharing! I’m type 1 diabetic so I found this great as its low in calories and carbs. I did swap the sugar for erythritol as this helps me reduce the carbs even more and it turned out beautifully. Though in fairness you’ve very little sugar in it anyway!. I’m looking forward to trying your other recipes.
That’s great, Niamh! I am glad you liked this recipe 🙂 How much erythritol did you use?
Absolutely delicious. I used barley malt instead of honey and soft dark brown sugar. Definitely making it again!
Thanks for sharing.
I am glad you loved it, Ottavia! Thank you for your feedback!
This was delicious! I made an autumn version, adding pumpkin pie spice and vanilla instead of the lemon. My family loved it! Thank you so much for the recipe.
I love your autumn version, Lisa! 🙂
Made this last night, it turned out really well – couldn’t wait to try some and it was lovely straight out the oven, but even better today – the texture has gone a lot more moist and ‘squidgy’ 😀
Mine came out a bit more like a tart than a cake but I think that was my choice of cake tin…and an apple tart is not a bad thing by any means.
I’m going to make it again and get fancy with the mix-ins… I fancy some almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla …
A lovely light dessert, thank you 🙂
I am so glad you liked it, Louise. Thank you for your feedback! 🙂
This cake was delicious!
I shared a link to your website in a blog of mine with a picture of the cake I made, if you don’t mind! If you do please let me know so I can edit it 🙂
You can check it out here https://foodietnlblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/mothers-day/
Your cake looks so pretty! 🙂 Thank you for sharing the link!
This cake is great. I substituted the sugar with honey using this website: http://www.billybee.ca/sugar-to-honey-converter
I also found that the amount of apple was a lot to have the batter cover them as shown in the picture so I just added 50% more batter (meaning I used 3 eggs, 165 g of flour, etc…).
I just have to learn how to present it! 🙂
Thank you for this great recipe! Will definitely read your blog more often 🙂
I’m thrilled you loved it, thanks for reporting back! 🙂
This cake looks absolutely delicious! Can gluten-free flour or a gluten-free flour blend be substituted and, if so, what flour or blend? I would love to know if anyone has tried making this cake gluten free and any changes that were needed.
Made this and it is quick to make, tastes delicious and is just as good the next day. If feeling indulgent this is beautiful with a drizzle of maple syrup and a little Greek yoghurt. Would definitely recommend and will be making again
Thank you for your feedback, Helen! Glad you liked this recipe 🙂