Easy apple squares are made with cinnamon and brown sugar. These delicious cake bars are very moist, thanks to the vegetable oil and the plain Greek yogurt.
The apple squares are super easy and quick to prepare on a busy weeknight! If you're bored with making the same apple recipes, such as apple crisp, crumble, or cobbler, try these little apple squares, and you'd be very happy! These apple cake bars work great as both dessert and breakfast. Talking about breakfast, have you tried these apple cinnamon pancakes with shredded apples? Or, maybe you will enjoy this cozy apple crumb coffee cake?
Apple Squares with Cinnamon and Brown Sugar
In this recipe, I am using a generous amount of apples, tossed together with cinnamon and brown sugar, folded in the cake batter and baked in a 9x9 square pan. These apple cake bars are really just a lot of apple chunks held together by a relatively small amount of cake batter. 🙂 After all, the apple dessert recipes should be all about apples, shouldn't they?
The apple squares are very moist, thanks to the vegetable oil and the plain Greek yogurt.
Other apple desserts
If you love all things apple, you will love these quick and easy apple desserts:
Apple Breakfast recipes
What could be better than enjoying a small slice of something sweet with apples in the morning? Here are my favorite apple breakfast recipes:
- Pumpkin Banana Bread with Apples
- Crepes with Ricotta Cheese and Caramelized Apples
- Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
- Apple Cinnamon Crepes
Easy Apple Squares (Cake Bars)
Ingredients
- 3 apples peeled, cored, and chopped into small square chunks
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white sugar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×9 square pan.
- In a medium bowl, toss chopped apples with cinnamon and brown sugar.
- In a mixing bowl, combine together 1 and ¼ cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ⅛ teaspoon salt.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 cup of white sugar, vegetable oil, yogurt, and vanilla until very smooth. Add eggs and whisk until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients (flour mixture) into wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Pour half of the batter into the greased pan, top with half of the apples, then pour the remaining half of the batter on top of the apple layer. Top with the remaining half of apples.
- Bake the cake for about 45 minutes or 1 hour - until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Fabulous every day cake. Made it the week before Thanksgiving and have been enjoying a slice every day.
Happy to hear that!
This is delicious. I had 36 apples to use up so I made 2 of these bar cake and gave 1 to a neighbor. I used red and green apples. I will definitely make these again for my grandchildren
How long will this take stay fresh at room temperature or does it need to be refrigerated?
Haven’t tried it yet but how do you store this since it has yogurt in it?
Delicious and easy recipe. I used Macintosh apples and the aroma while it was baking was incredible. My husband and daughter barely waited 20 minutes for the cake to cool before they cut into it. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Can you substitute the Greek yogurt for something else?
Thanks
Could canned apple pie filling be used? Or would that be too heavy?
I made this recipe only with fresh apples and it using fresh apples makes these apple squares so good!
I made this yesterday, 15- nov-2019, and it came out quite good, yes, I modified the recipe a bit:
1: I reduced the amount of sugar used with the apples by 1 TB. I also used 2 Red Delicious, because you don't specify the size or amount after choppng.
2: I also reduced to 3/4 c of sugar used in the batter, and increased flour to 1 1/3 c.
3: I added just a pinch of nutmeg to the batter.
The cake is still sweet, so I'm thinking of reducing the sugar a bit more next time.
Thank you for a lovely recipe. 🙂
I rated with 4 stars, but somehow it came out with 5.
This cake is so simple that I have to say, when I read the recipe, I was a little hesitant thinking it seems to be just a "regular" apple cake. However, when I read the comments, I was intrigued that people were saying it was really good, so I decided to try it. Glad to say, it didn't disappoint one bit. I made it last night and my husband just ate the last piece after lunch today. The only thing I did differently was to reduce the amount of sugar in the batter only because I wanted it to serve it for breakfast. Thank you so much for posting.
You are very welcome! So glad this recipe did not disappoint! Thank you for stopping by and sharing such a positive comment!
It looks yummy, will definitely make it over the weekend.
Do you use red apples or green apples?
You can use any kind of apples!
Really yummy! I cut white sugar in half, used regular plain yogurt, & put toasted slivered almonds over the top. Made a healthy afterschool snack.
Love the idea of adding toasted slivered almonds over apple squares!
Do you use plain Greek yogurt or vanilla?
I used plain Greek yogurt.
Dee-licious! Moist & lovely. Big hit with the gang. Thank you!
You are very welcome!
This is the best apple cake, very light and not too sweet
So happy to hear that! 🙂
Apple bars we wonderful! Great instructions easy to make!
Glad you liked this recipe! 🙂