Paleo Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Cake
October 13, 2012 
Primally Inspired 
When I first started the paleo/primal diet, one of the things I would miss on occasion was cake and other bread-like things. I’ve been experimenting with almond and coconut flour a lot lately and came up with this yummy breakfast cake. It’s a very high protein cake (9 eggs!), contains no grains so it’s gluten free and I’ve even made an option to make this completely sugar free. I especially enjoy this with a cup of hot tea for breakfast.
Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Cake
6-8 servings
Ingredients:
4 cups chopped organic apples, cored and chopped into ½ inch pieces. I had extremely large apple and 2 apples made 4 cups. I think you would probably need about 4 regular size apples to get 4 cups. No need to peel the apples.
½ cup water
1 T cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
2 T coconut oil or grass-fed butter
9 free range eggs
2 – 3 T pure maple syrup or pure raw honey
3 T coconut milk or milk of choice
1 ½ T organic coconut flour (do not substitute other flours – it will not work right. I get my coconut flour online from here or Organic Coconut Flour 3 Lbs by Nutiva
1/2 tsp additional cinnamon
heaping ¼ tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
**Sugar free option: Substitute the maple syrup/honey for a few tablespoons of my pure fruit sweetening paste or you can add a few dried medjool dates to the apples as they cook**
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a skillet, saute the apples, water, vanilla and cinnamon until the apples are the consistency of apple pie filling – about 10 minutes. Once the apples are finished cooking, add 2 T of coconut oil or butter to the mixture and stir until the oil or butter is melted. Allow the apple mixture to cool for a few minutes before adding it to the egg mixture.
In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, coconut milk, coconut flour, ½ tsp cinnamon, maple syrup, baking soda and salt until well combined.
Pour eggs and apple mixture into a coconut oil or butter well greased 8×8 pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until the top is nice and golden and the middle is cooked through. Enjoy!
Related posts:
Breakfast, Featured, Treats 
Tags: apple, bread, breakfast, cake, cinnamon, gluten free, grain free, nut free, paleo, primal, sugar free, whole foods 
I just used this recipe this morning and it turned out delicious. My whole family enjoyed so it’s a keeper. Thank you!
Glad you and your family like it, Gina! Thanks for the nice feedback, too
Loved the apple cake. Extremely moist. We ate it for dessert after dinner and then finished it for breakfast the next day. Good one. Keep them coming Kelly.
Thank you!!
Glad you liked it!
We have really been enjoying this for breakfast. I’ve made it at least 4 times now and thought it was about time I tell you that!
Great recipe.
So delicious! Thank you!
We love this! I’ve been making it about once or twice a week for the past month and it’s so so so good!
I would like to try this but want to make sure I read this right. Only one TABLESPOON and a half of coconut flour?
Hi Elisa! I know it sounds crazy, but yes it’s only 1 1/2 Tablespoons of coconut flour. Coconut flour baffles me at what it can do with such a little amount. But, you read it right! Hope you love the apple cake. It’s one of my favorites to eat for breakfast
That was exactly what I was going to ask. I’m so glad it is the smaller amount because that stuff is crazy expensive.
What if I wanted to make a little less? I could not get through that much. Does it freeze well, or could I halve the recipe?
Hi Jenn, I don’t know the answer, but I’m going to try to halve the recipe tomorrow and see if it works and freeze a piece and see if that works, too. I will let you know the results either tomorrow or Wednesday. I haven’t made the apple cake in awhile so this gives me a good excuse to make it
Well, hey! Thanks! I decided that I was just going to go ahead and make it and share it with friends, so I did. It is DELICIOUS. It is just me at my house though, and some recipes I find are hard to halve or store. If you find this one is, I would love you forever and ever and ever.
Hey Jenn! Well, I just made it by halving the recipe and it came out great!! Just like the original version. I halved everything but didn’t quite halve the coconut flour or the baking soda (see below).
Here’s exactly what I did:
2 cups chopped apple (1 BIG apple or 2 little ones)
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 T coconut oil or butter
5 eggs (mine were on the small side so I used 5. If yours are big, use 4)
1 T maple syrup
1 1/2 T coconut milk or milk of choice
1 T coconut flour
1/4 tsp additional cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
Make it just how you would the original recipe. I didn’t have one of those cute 4×4 pans, so I used a bread loaf pan and it was done cooking at the 40 minute mark. It came out a cute little loaf (came up about halfway in the bread pan).
A piece is freezing now so I will let you know about that tomorrow, but from everything I’ve been reading today, it should freeze really well. Similar recipes using eggs and coconut flour have froze well and tasted great when thawed according to a lot of people on the internet. But, I will let you know what I find out
Have a good one!!!
The apple cake freezes very well! I just enjoyed a thawed piece for lunch and it takes just like the original. I forgot how much I love this healthy cake!
Awesome!! Thank you for taking the time to test it!
I am new to the paleo-diet and was worried about what I will do when I need to get a sweet treat or bake for frendis. This is such a great solution! I can’t wait to try them! This is the best blog I have come across in a long time.
Thanks Murni! That means a lot to me
Hope you enjoy the treats!
This is so good! Thanks for the halving recommendations, too!
I added some chopped walnuts (about 1/2 cup) and it was delicious. Next time I will try baking it in mini muffin and mini loaf pans for easy freezing. Thanks for your generous sharing!
Thanks, Jess! Great idea on the walnuts – I’m going to try that next time
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I will make mini loaves and freeze, as well. Great idea! Thanks!
Hi! I had to only make a third of this recipe, substitute the maple syrup for molasses, and make it in a small circle baking dish! It just came out of the oven and I haven’t tried it yet-(waiting for tomorrow’s breakfast). I noticed all the apple rose to the top, do you think this is because the circle pan..? It still looks delicious, I’m just wondering about your input! Thanks for sharing the recipe
I’m not sure about that, Katie! I noticed the last time I made it, I made the apple chunks bigger than normal and they rose up to the top, too. I thought it looked kind of cool, but I have no idea why they did that either! Your apple cake definitely won’t be quite as sweet if you substituted the maple for molassas so you’ll have to let me know if you still liked it
My apples rose to the top, too. I was thinking of grating the apples next time to incorporate them better. It tastes kind of custardy-French toast-ish. I like it, my kids are not so sure yet.
Good idea about grating them! Maybe if you add a little more maple syrup (or pour some over it), they might give it another shot
That is how ours came out too. We put some maple syrup on top. It tasted a lot of egg. Couldn’t taste apple very much. Funny the kids in our house liked it more then the adults.
Hi !
I JUST made this recipe and it’s sooo good ! I replaced the maple syrup with honey and some maple butter (it’s what I had) and since I’m not a huge fan of cinnamon I put half the amount. Turns out I should have put it all in ! Simply wondering if it needs to be kept in the fridge ? We’re 3 in one fridge so I’m thinking of leaving it in our cold room…simply an unheated room and it’s winter here in Vancouver? I’m fairly new to cooking. Thanks!!
Thanks Kenze – so glad you all liked it!
And yes, it should be kept somewhere cold (thanks for reminding me of that – I’m going to update the recipe and write that in there). Your fridge or your cold room would do the trick!
I halved this, sorta
here were the ingredients I used:
2 cups apple (unpeeled)
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 medium-sized eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons flaxseed
1/4 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
Baked in a loaf pan (lined with parchment) for 35 minutes. Quite delicious!
Awesome, Rebekah! Thank you so much for sharing
I love that you included flaxseed, too!
I loved this recipe, it was really wonderful. My husband liked it but commented on the egg /custard taste. Guess he is not a big fan of that. So I added a cup of almond meal, it turned out fantastic and I didnt have to alter anything else. Thanks for being open to letting us post any changes we make. Your recipes are really great.
Thanks for the comment, Carol! I love when people post suggestions or things they’ve changed to fit their tastes and their families tastes – I almost always end up trying them out, too
I made this a few days ago and we loved it! I added a cup of almond meal/flour as one of your commenters suggested, rather than the 1.5T of coconut flour. I used 3T of honey instead of 2T of maple syrup. It turned out great. It had a bit of that custard texture, but more bread like. Best way I can explain it, it was like a piece of French toast. We sliced it up and toasted it in the toaster oven and then drizzled maple syrup on top. SO GOOD!!
YUM!!! That sounds amazing!
Huh. This tasted like apple quiche to me. Do we have to keep it refrigerated? Maybe I did something wrong but I followed the recipe.
Bummer, Kristina, apple quiche doesn’t sound so appealing :/ Yes, you do need to keep it refrigerated.
This def. isn’t super sweet tasting, so you might need to add more sweetener or apples for your tastes? Just an idea if you were willing to try it again.
I think it tastes more like french toast, but that’s just me.
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What are your favorite apples to make this with? Would something omething sweet and sour like pink lady’s be great or weird? do you typically use more sweet (gala, red), or sour like granny smiths? thanks! this recipe looks amazing can’t wait to try it!
Hi Amy! I make this a lot when apples are in season here and use whatever apples are the best deal at the farmer’s market – I’ve tried it with everything from gala to granny smiths and it’s all tasted great to me
I typically enjoy a sweeter apple to bake with, but the granny smith’s tasted really good in here, too. I think pink lady’s would be yummy!
Also, is the actual syrup necessary or do you think the texture would be fine if using a natural powdered sweetener?
A natural powdered sweetener would be perfect. Maple was just my sweetener of choice because I love apple and maple flavors together. There is more than enough liquid in the egg so you’ll be fine with something powdered.
thanks!! can’t wait to try it
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I’d love to make this, but my son is allergic to coconuts. Is there NOTHING that can be used instead of the coconut flour? maybe like tapioca flour or sprouted grain flour? (he’s allergic to all nuts, so no almond flour either).
Hi Kristin,
Tapioca flour and sweet potato flour are great alternatives, but they aren’t equal substitutions and honestly, I don’t know the substitutions off the top of my head. Let me see if I can find what they are and I’ll comment back on this. But I think those types of flours I mentioned would be great options for your son.
Thank you!
I made this last night without any sweetener. It was delicious! In the future, I will add more apples. Bacon crossed my mind too.
I love the way you think! BACON!
HI, I just made the apple cake…..WONDERFUL…. I had it with a titch of almond butter on it and it’m stiil cruising with no shakes after 5 hours. This, is a keeper for sure. When I get almond flour up here via the barge order (next fall) I’ll try it with that too. I love your recipes and I’m vera thankful I found your site. Have a brilliant rest of the day.
Nameste
Thank you so much for your comment, Deirdre!! Made me smile
You have a wonderful day as well!
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Incredible recipe. I made this for a potluck brunch for our triathlon team and not a crumb was left
Awesome!!! Thanks for helping a few tired athletes fuel for Ironman training 
Makes me so happy to hear this! And you and your ironman athletes rock – that’s quite an athletic accomplishment!!
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I made this today and the flavor was excellent, but it separated into
“layers”. I had apples on top (that was ok), then a “cakey” layer, then an eggy layer. Any idea what might cause the separation? I’m going to try it again… maybe try adding the almond flour, but if it’s something I can fix, that’d be great!
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I make this today and it definitely didn’t have a cake texture and had a slight egg flavor, which kind of disappointed me. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious and I ate 1/3 of the pan myself, but it’s more like a spongy custard… which is great if you like custard/french toast, but hubby and my youngest do not. The flavor is great though. I may try again with a few less eggs and more coconut flour.