A simple and delicious apple cinnamon bread, filled and topped with a brown sugar and cinnamon streusel and lots of chopped fresh chopped apple.
This apple cinnamon bread is a simply lovely loaf, full of warm spices, pleasantly sweet and with lots of apple pieces. The plentiful brown sugar and cinnamon streusel runs through the middle of this loaf, as well as being used for a crunchy topping.
This apple bread is a great one to have on the counter, as it can be enjoyed any time of day.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Butter: You can use either salted or unsalted butter here. Simply adjust the added salt accordingly (detailed in the Recipe Card below).
Apples: I think any moderately-sweet, red-skinned apple is fine to use here. I used Pink Lady apples. I’m personally not a fan of Granny Smith apples for this kind of baking. I find them both too tart and too hard, even after baking.
Brown Sugar: You can use either light or dark brown sugar here. I believe I may have used half light and half dark here, as I ran out light brown sugar. Use what you have or prefer.
Cinnamon: I’m mentioning the cinnamon here because I just bought a new little jar of cinnamon and have been pleasantly surprised at how lovely fresh cinnamon is in baking this time of year. So if your cinnamon has been sitting around a while, now might be the perfect time to freshen it up.
Recipe Tips
You’ll want to keep your apples diced on the smaller size, as large chunks of apple in the loaf will make your loaf more difficult to slice.
If you’d like, you can line the sides and bottom of the loaf pan with parchment paper, for easy removal after baking.
Note that the batter will be quite thick as you spread it into the pan.
Baking time will vary based on loaf pan size, colour and/or oven etc., so be sure to check/test the loaf regularly in the last part of baking. I baked this one in a 4×10-inch tea loaf pan and it took 60 minutes in my oven.
Making Ahead, Storing and Freezing
This loaf keeps really well stored at room temperature in an airtight container. It is nice for 2-3 days.
This apple cinnamon bread will also freeze well, tightly wrapped, up to 2 months.
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Get the Recipe: Apple Cinnamon Bread
Ingredients
Batter:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and levelled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, increase to 1/2 teaspoon if using unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon vanilla, or vanilla bean paste
- 2 cups apple, peeled and diced in 1/4 - 1/2-inch pieces
Cinnamon Brown Sugar Streusel:
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons white sugar
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoons butter, cold, salted or unsalted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (regular bake setting/not fan assisted). Grease an 8x4-inch or 4x10-inch loaf pan. Set aside. *If using a glass loaf pan, reduce the oven temperature to 325F.
- For the streusel: in a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, white sugar, flour and cinnamon. Break the butter into 3 or 4 chunks and then, using your finger tips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until dry and crumbly. Set aside.
- For the bread: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Peel and dice apples into a small dice (about 1/4-inch). Measure out the required amount and set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, lemon juice and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl, if necessary.
- With mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the batter and mix until well combined. Using a spatula, gently fold in the diced apples. The batter will be quite thick!
- To assemble loaf, spread half of apple batter into the bottom of the greased loaf pan. Sprinkle half of the streusel over batter. Top with remaining batter, then finish with the remaining streusel.Repeat layers with remaining batter and streusel.
- Bake at 350F for 55 to 65 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen, then carefully removing from the pan to cool completely on a cooling rack before slicing and serving.
Notes
More Apple Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Hi Jennifer,
I learned recently that I’ve developped a cinnamon intolerance (burning sensation in the mouth that lasts for days). Anyway. I know cinnamon is one of a kind, but would you have another spice I could use?
Thanks! :)
Hi Gabby, often nutmeg and allspice are found around cinnamon based recipes. You would use much less of both of those, as they are more powerful. There is also cardamom, which is hard for me to talk about because I don’t like cardamom :) That said, many people do and if you like the flavour, a little cardamom might be a good substitute (again, probably in lesser amount than the cinnamon). Hope that helps!
I made this yesterday to use up a couple of apples that were on the verge of seeing better days. My husband and I waited to cut into until this morning and it is already half gone! It is like sweet bread and cake and apple pie rolled into one super easy and delicious loaf! Thank you for sharing. Your recipes never disappoint!
So glad to hear, Breanna :) Thanks so much!
Hi Jennifer – This looks lovely and just the thing to bake while we’re in the middle of this disaster movie we’re all living in. Any chance of metric measurements for your English cousins please?
This was amazing! I realized I was out of white sugar after I began preparing the recipe, so I used all brown sugar and it turned out just fine. It was very moist and the texture was just right. We had a few sliced with a schmear of cream cheese (don’t judge!), but it was actually perfect all on it’s own. Thanks for another great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it and good to know it works with all brown sugar, too! And I never judge when cream cheese is involved :) Thanks!
Hi Jennifer,
All of Your recipes are awesome . I have a question can I use liquid oil instead of butter to make brown sugar cinnamon apple bread loaf .
Hi Afarin, You could use oil instead. I believe that you would need less oil. Perhaps 3/4 of the amount of butter (or 6 Tbsp in this recipe). A couple of notes though … you will, of course, lose the flavour of butter in the loaf. Secondly, the process of creaming the butter and sugar together for the loaf can’t really be duplicated with oil. That is likely to change the texture of the finished loaf as well. I haven’t tried it myself, so I’m not sure exactly how much the difference would be.
Hi Jennifer ,
Thank you so much for your advise.🙏 For sure I will try your fabulous recipe like always first then later I will try to make it with oil .
Thank you so much again and all the best to you . 😊
Thanks for another great recipe! This bread is delicious. Followed the recipe exactly but baked it maybe an extra 15 minutes ( to internal temp of 200*).
Pork chops and apples are next!
So glad to hear, Joni! Thanks so much :)
The texture of this bread looks incredible! I can almost smell it baking in my kitchen! This wouldn’t last long on my counter!
Thanks so much, Leanne :)
I had to make this as soon as I read the recipe. It truly did not disappoint. Smells and tastes amazing. A must have fall treat.
So glad you enjoyed it, Elizabeth :) Thanks so much!
Such a perfect looking loaf, so good for the fall.
Thanks so much, Matt :)
I want to grab a slice right through my screen Jennifer! Looks totally delicious and perfect for fall!
Thanks so much, Mary Ann :)
My baked goods end up somewhere else too! Mostly because I need people to take them or I will eat it ALL! Lol! I absolutely love apple bread and yours looks delish! The addition of cinnamon streusel has me drooling! Gimme gimme!!
Same here, Cheyanne :) Thanks!
I don’t know what I would do without our fabulous taste testers. We love having a piece of this, and one of that, but don’t feel like we have to eat the whole thing all the time. We especially love anything freezable to share (or eat) later! This is a gorgeous loaf and I can easily see why Joanne was anxious for the recipe. Love all the cinnamon :)
Thanks Tricia and yes, all the cinnamon is such a warming flavour this time of year :)
My mouth is watering like crazy looking at these pictures. I can taste the sweet, warm-spicy deliciouness! And I totally agree with you about Granny Smith apples. They never seem to get soft enough.
Thanks so much, Chris :)