Instant Pot Apple Cake is so moist and tender! I made it with fresh apples and full of rich cinnamon flavor! Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or, let it cool and sprinkle some powdered sugar on top.
Do you sometimes find your fridge overwhelmed with too many apples? Or simply tired of enjoying only Instant Pot Cheesecake recipes? Well, look no further! This easy Instant Pot Apple Cinnamon Cake recipe is a perfect excuse to use up all of these apples.
If you love apples, you might also enjoy Soft Baked Apple Cider Donuts with Cinnamon Sugar and Cinnamon Sugar Fried Apple Rings.
How to Make Instant Pot Apple Cake
To make Instant Pot Apple cake, we will be using pan inside the pot method. Below are some key points to remember.
- First of all, we are using the inner pot of the Instant Pot (the one you usually cook in) to hold water only. The inner pot is NOT used to hold the cake.
- For this recipe will use a smaller pan. It's 7 inches in size and fits inside the inner pot. A springform or removable bottom pan will cause more trouble than a sealed pan because the steam can easily penetrate tiny openings.
- The cake pan should be made out of metal (either stainless steel or aluminum).
- Cover this smaller pan TIGHTLY with foil to keep condensation from the water out of the cake. If the cake isn't wrapped tightly enough in foil and water manages to get in - you will get a gooey undercooked cake. You can also overwrap the cake with plastic wrap, then over wrap it again 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.
- Next we will put this smaller pan comfortably on top of the trivet.
- Don't be surprised if the cake batter is dense and thick. That's how it should be.
- Finally, the Instant Pot Apple Cake is pressure cooked for 1 hour, followed by natural release method. If you want to understand exactly why understanding IP cook times is so important, check out how Core Instant Pot Cook Times work before you dive in.
What Cake Pan to Use Inside Your Instant Pot
I made this Instant Pot apple cake in the 8 quart pot. Of course, it can and should be made in the 6 quart IP as well. And here are three cake pan options for both sizes. Just make sure that your cake pan is made out of metal and is NOT ceramic:
Note: your 8 inch round cake pan or removable bottom cake pan will fit in the 8 quart pot, however 8 inch spring form one won't.
I personally think that removable bottom pan is a great option for 2 reasons:
- First of all, it doesn't have a clip on the side like a spring form pan, which makes it really easy to fit inside the Instant.
- Second of all, it allows you to push up the bottom of the pan with the cake resting on.
- Finally, it causes no damage to the sides of the cake.
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.
Can I Use Ceramic Pan for Instant Pot Apple Cake?
Ceramic pan will not work in this Instant Pot Apple Cake recipe the same way. As you may know ceramic is less heat conductive than metal. Therefore the cake won't be cooked through all the way.
Fortunately for us, most metal non-ceramic cake pans, like the cake pan used in this Apple Cake Instant Pot recipe, are made either from aluminum or stainless steel. Both of these materials take much less time to heat through than ceramic baking dishes.
I remember a reader who actually attempted to cook this cake inside the ceramic pot. She later reported that the cake batter was still not cooked even after 1 hour of pressure cooking. She had to increase cooking time from 1 to 1.5 hours in order for the cake to cook through.
Why Use Dedicated Rings for Making Instant Pot Desserts
One time, I turned on my Instant Pot with an apple cinnamon cake already inside, expecting my kitchen to fill with the warm smell of cinnamon and apples. Instead, it started smelling like beef stew. I had forgotten to switch out the ring.
That moment is exactly why I keep two separate rings: one for desserts and one for savory dishes. If I'm making a cake, I want it to smell like apples and cinnamon, not dinner. For more helpful ideas, check out my Instant Pot Tips and Tricks.
Are you also making both desserts and savory recipes with your Instant Pot? I recommend to use these BPA free and dishwasher safe genuine Instant Pot rings. That way you will have 2 different rings for those purposes to avoid your cake smelling like a stew!
Prepare the apples
First things first, I covered the apple slices with cinnamon and sugar. Then I went on to prepare the batter.
Prepare the batter
Second of all, I prepared the batter. Once you mix dry and wet ingredients together, you will see that the batter is quite thick. Tat's completely normal. You might also think that there is not enough of it. And that's OK too because the batter will expand when pressure cooked.
Next pour half of batter in the cake pan. And now spread half of apples on top of the batter.
Add the remaining batter covering most of the apple pieces. Finally, spread the remaining half apples and any juices on top.
Use aluminum foil to cover the cake pan
Now cover the cake pan tightly with aluminum foil. This is needed to trap the air and prevent excess moisture from getting into the cake.
Next add 1 cup water into the instant pot's inner pot. Place cake pan wrapped in foil on the trivet. Finally put the trivet with the pan on it into the Instant Pot.
It's time to put your IP to work! First, press Manual, then High Pressure and set cook time to 60 minutes. Once done, use Natural Pressure release before opening the Instant Pot.
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
How to enjoy this Instant Pot Apple Cake
I recommend serving Instant Pot Apple Cake warm with a bowl of ice cream. You can also cool it off and sprinkle some powdered sugar on top before serving.
For More Apple Cake Recipes, Check Out These
- Moist Instant Pot Apple Cake
- French Apple Cake
- Italian Apple Cake
- German Apple Sheet Cake
- Easy Apple Cinnamon Cake
Readers' images of this Instant Pot Apple Cake
This Instant Pot apple cake has been made many times by readers on Facebook and Pinterest. I thought you would be interested to see what it looks like! Here are the results. Below are some of the images of the cake provided by the readers
Dina says
We made it for my mom's birthday - my daughter handled all the technical stuff and it was doughy and dense!
Roy says
I really like the flavor of this cake. It is not too sweet and the apple really shines.
After reading that the cake came out under Jon for some people, I tried it two different ways. I made one cake in the 7 inch spring form pan and one cake and the Bundt pan.
The cake in the springform pan was undercooked and I put it back in for another 10 minutes and it came out just fine.
The cake I cooked in the Bundt pan was perfect on the first try at the 60 minutes with a 15 minute natural release.
Olya says
Wow Roy! Thank you so much for such an insightful experiment. I will make sure to publish your findings! Great work and hope you enjoyed both cakes:)
Janelle says
Came out great! Love my IP!
Olya says
I am happy to hear that.
Beth Anne says
Olya, thank you for sharing your recipe. Your instructions are super easy to follow! This apple cake is so moist and has so much flavor, and I really like the dense (but not heavy!) texture.
I’ve made your cake many times in my 6 quart Instant Pot, and I use a 7” springform pan, double-wrapped with heavy, nonstick aluminum foil. I do add an extra 10 minutes to my cook-time to kind of compensate for all that heavy foil, but other than that I follow your recipe exactly.
I just baked one today and topped it with a simple glaze - it is a “happy” for a neighbor that just returned from a long vacation and she is going to love it!
Olya says
Thank you Beth - your comment made my morning:)
Brooke says
My husband and I just made this in our Instapot 8qt. Turned out delicious! Thank you so much. 💕
Olya says
That's the same size I have too! So glad it worked out!
Susanne Touchtone says
Wonderful taste. My cake also came out slightly undercooked so I put it back in the pot for another 30 minutes and then in the oven at 350 for 20 minutes.
My husband and I had a piece with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Very good. I used Ever Crisp apples.
I’ll make this again for company coming next week.
Olya says
Thank you so much for trying this and returning to post this comment! Vanilla ice cream with apple cake is the best!
Ken says
The first time I made this it worked perfectly. Those that commented the center was raw must not have let the pressure release naturally. The family loved it! The only thing I will do differently the next time I make this, will be to add some cinnam to the cake batter
Olya says
Thank you Ken! I am so glad the cake turned out well!
Amanda says
This was so good! I made it exactly as directed in a 6qt Instapot with a 7 in spring pan double wrapped in heavy foil. Did a natural release and let cool on the counter for a couple of hours before dusting with powder sugar. Served it for dessert and the family loved it. I was concerned after reading some of the reviews about it not cooking through but I think that people are expecting a fluffy kind of cake when this is moister, denser cakes. What surprised me was it made almost a pie like crust on the very bottom. So good! Anyway huge hits with my family, including my 8 year old niece and 12 year old daughter. This will definitely be going into the rotation. Thank you so much!
Olya says
I was worried too about it not being cooked through for you :). I am so glad that was NOT the case!
It is quite dense and I LOVE the texture. I wish I knew exactly why it does not turn out well for others.
Jan says
This cake is definitely not sweet enough. But that's a positive! I hate overly sweet desserts. It baked through, but there is so much taste to it. The apples were tart just like I like it. I used Granny Smith apples which is what I use for apple pie. I was concerned that you only add 2 T of sugar to the apples. As I said, definitely not as sweet as you would expect in an apple cake or pie.
Olya says
Yes, you are 100% on point about sweetness. It's not at the level of the usual apple pie at all. Very good point - I will have to indicate it in the recipe. Thank you!
Carla says
My cake looked like a cake! I Am going to try baking it in the instant pot now.
Olya says
I'm so sorry this was such a disaster!!! I understand how disappointing it can feel.