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It’s official. One more day and Katie (my 1st born) will be in kindergarten (crazy! I know).
This means back to schedules, early bed times, and (gulp!) packing school lunches.
So I’ve been on a mission to come up with some yummy recipe ideas for her lunch box that are not full of refined sugars and flours yet are still insanely delicious!
I found this recipe, and decided to give it a try. I really didn’t change much of anything, other than cutting back on the vanilla extract (that stuff is expensive!) and adding a little sprinkle of turbinado sugar over the top (adds an unbeatable crunch).
Warm fall flavors, nice light texture, sprinkled with little bits of apple in every bite. This cake is a keeper!
This recipe will definitely be in our rotation this fall (I’m actually thinking it would also make a great base for a gluten-free carrot cake – but that will be for another day).
Anyone else getting ready to pack school lunches? If so, what are some of your clean & delicious favorites?
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/4 cup coconut oil melted
- 1/2 cup raw honey
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1-2 medium apples cored and diced
- 2 tsp. turbinado sugar optional
- Freshly grated nutmeg optional
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 350.
- Combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, arrowroot, and cinnamon in a large bowl and mix until well incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, combine coconut oil, honey, egg, and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
- Mix the wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients and stir until everything is just combined. Add the apples to the batter and gently stir until incorporated.
- Pour batter into a greased 9x11 pan (I brush mine with coconut oil). Sprinkle turbinado sugar over the top and dust with freshly grated nutmeg.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until it is set in the center and lightly browned on top. Cool and enjoy!
- Makes 12 servings.
Jen says
Hi Dani,
Looks delish. Im going to try these for my teenagers too.
Jen says
Hey Dani!
Do you think this recipe would freeze well?
Thanks,
Jen
Dani says
yes. i do!
Sara says
Hey Dani,
Could you kindly share the measurements of this recipe in mg and mls? I’m a beginner at baking and was very confused with varying conversation site online and ended up with a complete mess! Many thanks in advance!
Sara (Sweden)
Emily says
Holy Cow! This was amazing! It reminded me of a pumpkin cake that I love, but is much healthier. Dani, I make your recipes all the time and many have become family favorites. And the videos encourage me to try vegetables that intimidate me! This is by far my favorite food site of all time. Thank you!
Dani says
Awesome! So glad to hear it… enjoy:)
saira khan says
Hi
Can you recommend store brand almond flour if we don’t make our own?
Thanks
Dani says
Honeyville is one of my favorites. https://shop.honeyville.com/products/flours/natural-almond-flour.html
Margarita says
Hey Dani! Here in my country i can’t find arrowrrot. Could i replace!? For what other ingredient?
A hug.
M
Dani says
You can replace it 1:1 with cornstarch.
Sara says
Dani,
I just made this cake and LOVE it! So delicious! Thanks for posting!
Maureen says
The flavor on these is wonderful! I think I would have had even better results with a very finely ground almond meal/flour. I am looking forward these throughout the week.
Rose KAN says
I’ve made it twice and both were great. Even my friends asked me for the recipe, so I gave them your websites so they can come and check it by themselves. Thanks Deni. 🙂
Dani says
Aweosome! and thanks for sharing my website with others:)
Nancy says
Hi ! I would love to make that receipe, but almond is not alowed at school (all nuts aren’t ) Can I just use regular flour instead or do you suggest something else ? Thank you very very much I really like your receipes!!
Vicky says
Hi,
I was wondering if it was possible to take out the apple and put carrot and nuts instead so it would be a carrot cake?
Dani says
Vicky – I have not tried this yet but I really think it would work. As a matter of fact, I want to do this myself – so if you give it a try, please let me know how it goes.
agnes says
Hi Dani! I was so excited to bake this snack yesterday, but I used coconut flour instead and it did not stick all my ingredients together and came out to be in the same form after 30 min in the oven. I used everything the same as yours but my vanilla extract was not liquid, it was powder form…It tastes and smells wonderful but it’s all in powder from =/ Any suggestion how I can incorporate this in to something else? Perhaps mix it with a different flour and bake it again? Thank you!
vicky says
Hei Dani,
So I tried to make your apple snake into a carrot cake as I asked you about before. The only thing I changed was the egg because I didn’t have any so I used apple sauce instead and I also added carrot and nuts and it was really good it was a bit dense it didn’t have that fluffy feeling/texture as a normal carrot cake have but in the end I would prefer this healthier alternative 🙂 So thank you your recipe, it
really helped me to make a delicious carrot cake.
Dani says
That sounds delish. Thanks for the feedback – I really want to try this myself.
Joanne Lowe says
Dear Dani,
I just found your site through your Quinoa 3 recipes, I have a Crunchy Quinoa Salad recipe I was given when I took a 10-week healthy living course and I tweaked it, and now quinoa is a favorite, cannot wait to try that Thai recipe, but I think I’ll add some seeds and perhaps some almonds too–cannot wait! I do eat wheat-free, so I’d likely substitute tamari for soy sauce but that’s an easy one. 🙂
I was THRILLED to find this recipe, as so many recipes have both almond flour and coconut flour and I cannot stand the taste of coconut. I don’t mind coconut oil, I’ve found a healthier one that doesn’t have a strong aroma and coconut milk seems to be OK, but coconut flour taste is just too strong. So this recipe is GREAT!
Thanks so much for these wonderful recipes! I live with a lot of health issues that make doing anything challenging, so I need easy recipes, I have subscribed to your site. You’ve made my day to have found you!!!
Just a small question, I love idea of the crunch of the turbinado sugar on top but am wondering if there’s a healthier option, but I get it that it’s a small amount on a cake. Just wondered… Also what would maple syrup do to the taste instead of raw honey (I like raw honey too, and try and buy locally, as I’m told that is better for us too), I have some organic dark maple syrup in my frig right now and tend to use this as a sweetener and can cut the amount due to the dark variety and also found out the dark has more minerals. I am learning and am keen to learn more–a little knowledge begs more!!! 🙂 Thanks for your help, Dani, I am impressed with what you are doing.
Best wishes,
Joanne
Dani says
Good question. The sugar on top really is just a little bit (which is why I don’t mind it so much) and I have found it tricky to get that texture from any other type of sugar. You can however, skip it all together, and I promise the cake would still be great. AND I am pretty certain that subbing maple syrup for the honey would work just fine and taste great! So if I were you, I would definitely go for it;)
Joanne+Lowe says
Hello again, Dani,
Another question–sorry. Why kosher salt and not sea salt? I’m sure you have a good reason, just trying to learn from you.
Thanks for your help with this!!!
Best wishes to you,
Joanne
Dani says
Honestly – My love of kosher salt has nothing to do with health – its all about the texture for me. Kosher slat has slightly larger granules then other salts and I just love working with it in the kitchen. I also find that because of its size, I tend to use less.
Grace says
Can I replace coconut oil with olive oil?
Dani says
I think that would work just fine – although it may shift the flavor a bit;)
Lorena says
Hi Dani! your website is incredible. I love the way you post your videos, you make them to the point that I want to try them all. You are so lovely, I have a question in regards to this recipe, what can I replace the arrowroot flour with in term of carb free, could coconut flour work fine, any other carb free substitute that I can use.
Dani says
Hi Lorena! Thanks so much:) I’ve never done this myself but a quick Google search says that: “1 tsp Arrowroot powder = 1 T flour or 1 1/2 t. cornstarch” Perhaps that can help!!
Ellen says
Dani,
My son is allergic to tree nuts. What flour can I substitute for almond flour?
Simon says
Hi Dani
Love your YouTube channel and all these yummy gluten free recipies. Quick question, I followed your measurements, except for slightly less honey, but mine came out quie a stiff mixture in the mixing bowl, in your video for this recipe yours looked quite runnier when you poured it into the baking dish
Any idea why mine came out more like a stiff dough? I did add a little water to the mix to loosen it but still it was no where near as runny as yours.
Keep up the great work!
Best
Simon
Dani says
Hmmm! The only think I can think is maybe the brand of almond flour you are using? Ive heard that different brands yield different results. I am using a home made almond flour that I made after making almond milk. I’m curious, how was the final cake?
Ri says
Hey Dani! thank you for sharing this recipe! I just popped my tray in the oven. I love apple cake so im excited for it to be ready! I didn’t have 2 cups of almond flour I had less than 1/4 cup so I had to improvise a little bit. As the “flour” I used a mixture of ground walnuts, coconut flour, old fashioned rolled oats and some ground flax. Because coconut flour absorbs more liquid I used about 1/4 cup of applesauce and I did the one egg + 1 egg white and ill just use the yolk to make a yummy omelette hehe and I sprinkled brown sugar on top because I didn’t have tubinado sugar and I didn’t have kosher salt so I used sea salt so that was my variation oh and I used half a cup of maple syrup half a cup of raw honey and a tablespoon of organic coconut sugar and darn it! I just realized I didn’t use baking soda urghh it wasn’t listed in the steps but its ok hopefully it still turns out ok
Ri says
oh my bad it was listed I just missed it!!
Sherry says
Can we make this with whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour ?
Sherin
Brandi says
This recipe is incredible. Just the right amount of sweetness, and you can really taste each ingredient and spice. The turbinado on top gives a satisfying crunch too. Thank you for another great recipe!
Dani says
Yay!! So glad you enjoyed this one.
Jacqueline says
I made this cake today and substituted maple syrup for the vanilla. I didn’t have any ginger but I bet it is awesome with ginger. It turned out fantastic. I served It with a warm blueberry sauce because they are in season. Yum. Thank you for this great recipe.
Dani says
That sounds amazing!!