This is a great, relatively quick-to-make sweet loaf bread ideal for afternoon tea or breakfast treat. The most time-consuming part is chopping the apple because there’s quite a lot of the fruit in this!
Yogurt and oil make the crumb beautifully moist so it will stay fresh for days. I like to add walnuts for soft crunch but it’s entirely optional. The apple slice topping is also optional. So many options! 🙂

Equipment
1 loaf pan , 21.5 x 11.5 x 7 cm / 4.5 x 8.5 x 2.75″

Ingredients

Topping (optional):
1 Granny Smith apple , quartered, cored, thinly sliced 3 mm / 1/8″ thick (Note 1)
1 1/2 tbsp demerara sugar (or turbinado sugar, Note 2)
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
Cinnamon Apple:
3 cups diced Granny Smith apple , 1/2” cubes, skin on (approx 2 large apples) (Note 2)
1 tsp cinnamon powder
3 tbsp brown sugar
Batter – Dry:
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp ginger powder (Note 3)
1/4 tsp allspice (or mixed spice) (Note 3)
1 3/4 cups plain / all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda , sifted (Note 4)
1/4 tsp cooking / kosher salt
Batter – Wet:
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup yogurt , plain unsweetened (sub sour cream), at room temperature (Note 5)
2 eggs , at room temperature (Note 5)
1/2 cup canola oil (or other neutral flavoured oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Walnuts (optional):
1 cup walnuts , toasted, roughly chopped into 1cm/1/3″ pieces (not too small) (Note 6)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan). Position shelf in the middle of the oven.
Loaf pan (Note 7): Use a 21.5 x 11.5 x 7 cm / 4.5 x 8.5 x 2.75″ pan. Spray with canola oil then line the long side + base with a single piece of paper leaving some overhang (don’t worry about lining short sides).
Topping: Mix the Demerara sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
Cinnamon Apple: Mix Cinnamon Apple ingredients in a bowl. Set aside while you prepare the batter (the sugar will make the apple sweat = good thing!).
Batter: Whisk the Dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk Wet ingredients. Pour Wet mix into the Dry bowl, whisk just until smooth. Stir in apples (including all juices) and walnuts. Batter should be thick but dollop-able (not pourable in thin stream, nor thick like sticky bread dough). Scrape into loaf pan, smooth surface.
Topping: Take 1/4 of the apple slices, fan out (so they’re overlapping) then arrange on top. Repeat in two more lots of 1/4 of an apple. (I find to cover the surface, I only use 3/4 of the apple.) Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake 60 minutes. Cover loosely with foil, bake for further 25 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out smooth.
Rest 15 minutes in the pan then use paper overhang to remove to a rack. Cool at least 1 hour on rack before slicing!
Serving – The bread is moist and flavoured enough to eat plain though nobody complains if it’s lightly toasted and slathered with butter!

Notes

1. Apple quantity – You will need about 650g / 1.4 lb apples in total (3 x 220g / 7.5 oz large apples).
Apple varieties – This recipe should work fine with most apple varieties. Some apples will cook up softer than others. I like Granny Smith for the slight tartness and it holds its shape well when cooked. If using really sweet apples, you may want to reduce the brown sugar down to 1/2 cup.
Apple topping – I can only fit 3/4 of an apple’s worth of slices on top. If you want to squeeze all of it, go right ahead!
2. Demerara sugar – This is a coarse sugar with a hint of molasses flavour that creases jewel-like crust on the surface. Substitute with 2 tbsp brown sugar.
3. Spices – I like this combination of spices for my apple loaf but if you don’t have them, feel free to substitute with more cinnamon powder.
4. Baking soda (bi-carb) is basically baking powder on steroids with ~3x lifting power. I find a combination of the two works best for crumb texture and surface shape. If you don’t have it, substitute with an extra 2 teaspoons baking powder. The surface of the loaf may end up a little more level rather than attractively domed but the crumb will be similar.
Self-raising flour can be used instead of plain flour + baking powder + baking soda but it won’t rise quite as well. It does work though!
5. Room temperature – It’s best for the eggs and yogurt to be at room temperature as the batter will be quite stiff if they are fridge-cold. However this recipe is quite forgiving so it’s not the end of the world if they are fridge-cold (speaking from experience here!).
6. Toasted walnuts – Spread on a tray and bake for 8 minutes at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan), shaking the tray once.
7. Loaf pan – If yours is larger, that’s fine. It’s just that the loaf won’t end up as tall as you see pictured.
8. Leftovers – Stays fresh for 5 days. It’s best to keep in the fridge and serve warm (microwave, or oven/toaster to toast). Freezes 3 months.
9. Nutrition per serving, assuming 10 slices.
Nutrition
Calories: 394cal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 141mg | Potassium: 245mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 99IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 2mg