This Instant Pot Apple Cinnamon Cake is moist, tender, and packed with fresh apples and warm cinnamon. It is pressure-cooked in a 7-inch cake pan for a soft, tender texture without turning on the oven.
Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream for a cozy fall dessert, or let it cool and finish it with a light dusting of powdered sugar. The batter is intentionally thick, the apples are layered throughout, and the cake is covered tightly while it cooks so steam does not turn the top wet or gummy.
If you have extra apples to use, try my Soft Baked Apple Cider Donuts with Cinnamon Sugar and Cinnamon Sugar Fried Apple Rings.
How to Make Instant Pot Apple Cake
This cake uses the pan-in-pot method: the Instant Pot's inner pot holds water, while the batter sits in a separate 7-inch metal pan on a trivet above it. The sealed cooker builds pressure while steam circulates around the pan, gently cooking the cake.
For the most reliable result, use a 7-inch metal round cake pan and cover it tightly with foil before pressure cooking. The foil protects the batter from condensation, which is essential for a moist cake rather than a wet, undercooked top.
1. Prepare the Apples and Batter
Toss the apple slices with cinnamon and sugar.
Prepare the batter; it will be thick, which is exactly what you want for this cake.
The batter will look thick and may not seem like enough at first-this is normal. It expands as it pressure cooks and surrounds the cinnamon-sugar-coated apples in distinct layers.
Spread half the batter into the prepared pan, then layer half the apples over it. Cover with the remaining batter, then arrange the remaining apples and any cinnamon-sugar juices over the top.
2. Pressure Cook
Cover the pan tightly with foil. Add 1 cup water to the Instant Pot inner pot, place the foil-covered pan on the trivet, and lower it into the pot.
Pressure cook for 60 minutes, then allow the pressure to release naturally before opening the lid. For more help with timing and releases, see my guide to Core Instant Pot Cook Times.
What Cake Pan to Use Inside Your Instant Pot?
I use a 7-inch metal round cake pan for this Instant Pot apple cake. It fits in both 6-quart and 8-quart models and gives the most reliable result because it has no removable base or side seam for moisture to enter.
A 7-inch springform or removable-bottom pan can also work, but cover it especially well with foil. These pans have seams that can allow condensation into the cake during pressure cooking.
Use a metal pan-such as aluminum or stainless steel-for the most predictable cooking. I do not recommend ceramic for this recipe because it has not been tested with the stated cook time.
New to pressure cooking? Start with our Ultimate Guide to Instant Pot to get comfortable with the basics, then come back to nail this Instant Pot Apple Cake.
Use a Separate Sealing Ring for Desserts
Silicone sealing rings can hold onto strong savory aromas. If your ring smells like chili, stew, or garlic, use a separate clean ring for desserts so your apple cake smells like cinnamon and apples-not last night's dinner. I keep one ring for sweet recipes and one for savory cooking. For more pressure-cooker help, see my Instant Pot Tips and Tricks.
Instant Pot Apple Cinnamon Cake
Ingredients
Apples
- 2 ½ cups apples (cored, peeled and diced)
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Cake
- 1 ½ cups flour (one and a half cup)
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
You will also need:
- 1 cup water (to be used in the inner pot)
- Powdered sugar (to decorate the top of the cake)
Instructions
Apples
- Toss chopped apple slices with cinnamon and 2 tablespoon sugar and set aside.
Cake
- In a large bowl mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients: oil, orange juice, sugar, vanilla and eggs. Mix wet ingredients into dry ones very well. The resulting batter is very thick and will seem like there is not very much of it - that's OK.
- Grease a 7" cake pan (that's where the cake will go into).
- Pour half of batter in the cake pan.Spread half of apples on top of the batter.
- Add the remaining batter covering most of the apple pieces. Finally, spread the remaining half of apples and any juices on top.
- Cover the cake pan tightly with aluminum foil. Double wrap it! Cover with saran wrap
Instant Pot
- Have your Instant Pot plugged in and make sure you have the inner pot in.
- Add 1 cup water to Instant Pot. Place the cake pan wrapped in foil on the trivet and now place both in the Instant Pot.
- Press Manual, then High pressure and set cook time to 60 minutes. Once done use Natural Pressure release before opening the Instant Pot.
- Carefully take the trivet out of the instant pot and remove the foil wrapped caked from the trivet. Next remove the aluminum foil from the cake pan. Now allow the cake to cool for 10-15 minutes and then remove the cake from the pan.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar or serve warm with a bowl of vanilla ice cream!
Video
For More Apple Cake Recipes, Check Out These
Readers' Instant Pot Apple Cakes
I love seeing your versions of this recipe. Here are a few apple cakes shared by readers on Facebook and Pinterest.
Pamela says
Made this last night. I get that the batter is supposed to be thick, but I chose to add another egg and some oil, then spread it in the pan. followed the baking directions and it came out fully cooked. Taste was good, and the recipe is very clear video too!!
Olya says
I'm so sorry it didn't turn out as planned!!! Sugar is added in two spots in the recipe - it's in the directions.
Pamela says
Thank you
Olya says
That's a very good question! You're right sugar is not really a wet ingredient, it's just treated as one in certain types of baking (the general idea is that Sugar and Water are Best Friends Forever). It is more of a way of labeling the group of ingredients, because each of them is part of the final wet intermediate ingredient or the final dry intermediate ingredient.
Kris says
I’ve made this apple cake 3 times and every single time , it is not fully cooked. The first two times I did use a springform pan but I covered in foil multiple times and both times I had to finish in the oven. Today, I did it in a regular pan, thinking that maybe the moisture was still seeping in BC of the springform pan. Nope, it was still undercooked after an hour of pressure cooking and the natural release also took another hour. I honestly don’t know what else I could be doing wrong but I am highly disappointed 😞
Olya says
I am so sorry to hear this! What size instant pot are you using? What year?
Caz says
Amazing recipe. Came out looking like a thick apple cider donut. I think if it doesn't come out right - put in the oven for 15 minutes. Then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and grill (broiled) for 5 minutes. Would have benefited from c15 minutes steaming (valve open) to help it rise first. Tasted really good. will be making it again.
Olya says
So sorry it didn't work out, Caz
Linda Archer says
I made it tonight and we really enjoyed it. It had delicious apple flavor. We didn't have ice cream but I put a
squirt of heavy cream on mine. yum!
Olya says
Yes! So glad it worked out!
Clare says
I followed the instructions exactly, however, it was raw in the middle. I over wrapped with Saran Wrap, and then tinfoil. No moisture got inside. It is in the oven right now to finish cooking. Slightly disappointe, I was so excited!
Olya says
Yes, of course you are disappointed! I wonder if you left it wrapped for 15 minutes - if the raw in the middle would cook through. I am not sure the extent of raw middle though - so it depends.
Mary Ellen says
Such a disappointment but my fault. I double wrapped it with aluminum foil but did not go under/over/wrap again and the saran wrap method i think the saran wrap should have been mentioned much earlier in the instructions.
I'm now going to put it in the oven to finish baking. Let's hope this works.
Mary Ellen
Olya says
I will update the instructions, even though in my Instant Pot I do not have to use the Saran Wrap method, but it does work:)
Ashley says
I made this last night and we really enjoyed it. I used a Bundt pan made for the instant pot and it worked great. The only thing I changed is that I treated the sugar as a dry ingredient instead of a wet ingredient
Olya says
So glad you came back to review it AFTER making it in a bundt pan. Happy to hear it worked!
Christina says
Do you think this could be made in a Bundt pan? And how would I get it out? I’m new to instant pot cooking.
Olya says
Yes, you can definitely use non stick bundt cake pan that is small and that fits inside your instant pot. Once done, let it cool off a bit, flip it and shake it out of the pan.
KB says
This is a fairly standard cake recipe and there's no reason why it shouldn't work in the instant pot. I would like to suggest to those whose cake was an gluey mess that the cake wasn't wrapped tightly enough in foil and water managed to get in, or the pan was smaller than 7-inches. The cake can be overwrapped with plastic wrap, then over wrapped with foil. By overwrap, I mean a full wrap over the top, around the bottom, and up over the top then halfway down the side of the pan. Repeat with the foil as an extra precaution. A springfor or removeable bottom will cause more trouble than a sealed pan because the steam can easily penetrate tiny openings.
Olya says
Thank you KB for these detailed tips and tricks. I will definitely use them in my post. Wow! Please come back
Lee says
I am a big fan of very dense consistency. top notch apple flavor