Sticky sweet Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread ready to devour in just 90 seconds! This easy single-serve fall dessert features fluffy gluten-free dough balls coated in sparkly cinnamon sugar, diced granny smith apples, and the easiest vegan SunButter caramel sauce. So easy, so indulgent!

Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread Mug Cake (vegan + gluten-free)

How To Make Monkey Bread In A Mug

Typically monkey bread is made in a bundt pan and for a whole party’s worth of people. But sometimes you want monkey bread just for you and your sweet-craving self, and that’s where this perfect ramekin-for-one-recipe comes in. The process is pretty similar although we are swapping biscuit dough for a homemade vegan + gluten-free dough, using a homemade caramel sauce instead of glaze, and baking it in the microwave for speed (oven option included too though!)

Vegan Gluten-Free Monkey Bread Dough

This part of the recipe too quite a bit (soooo much) testing to get just right, but trust me it is JUST right! Soft, moist, pillowy, squish-able little pull apart dough balls that are fluffy on the inside and soak up all that sauce and cinnamon sugar on the outside – perfection!

In the end the ingredients were much simpler than where I started. The tricky part was creating a dough that is dry enough to be rolled into balls but still moist after baking, and also getting the gluten-y elasticity monkey bread must have but gluten-free and without eggs. So here is the easy ingredient list we landed on:

Applesauce. It adds moisture, it reduces the amount of oil we need, and of course if we can double up on the apple flavor in this APPLE cinnamon recipe we absolutely should. Unsweetened is best.
Maple syrup. I wanted the dough itself to be a little bit sweet despite all the sweet stuff going on outside of it, so just one teaspoon of maple syrup is perfect. You could use agave or honey instead.
Coconut oil. Again not too much here, but a little bit helps the dough firm up in the freezer real quick and be easy to roll into balls. Do not sub other oils, melted vegan butter would be okay.
Gluten-free flour. I tried really hard to make this recipe work with oat flour and the texture just wasn’t right, so a gluten-free blend is best here. If not gluten-free, regular all purpose flour is fine too.
Cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.
Granny smith apple. Or really any kind of apple you love, I personally am fond of granny smiths for baking. Diced into very fine little chunks.

The Sweetest SunButter Caramel Sauce

And hands down the easiest too – just 4 ingredients and no heat required! This caramel is delicious on so many things, and you will have a bit leftover from this recipe to experiment with.

Organic SunButter. You guys know how much I LOVE SunButter by now, and especially how much I love this variety for recipes. Only ingredient: roasted sunflower seeds. Special skill: being the silkiest, most delicious caramel sauce base ingredient.
Maple syrup. I love maple syrup for all my liquid sweetening needs this time of year because the flavor pair so beautifully with cinnamon, but another liquid sweetener would be okay.
Coconut oil. Adding some extra drizzly smoothness to this dairy free caramel sauce.
Vanilla extract. For a little extra of that classic caramel flavor. A pinch of salt wouldn’t hurt either if you are a SALTED caramel fan.

Tips For Making Your Monkey Bread Mug Cake

Before whisking the caramel together, make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. If you don’t, the coconut oil may seize up and not become the smooth silky caramel sauce of your dreams.
Chill the dough after mixing. It will be somewhere between a batter and a dough consistency initially, chilling for 10 to 15 minutes will firm it up just enough to be able to easily roll into little dough balls.
Make sure you use a large enough mug or ramekin (mine was approximately 8oz), otherwise it may overflow and become a mess in your microwave. Placing a plate underneath just to be safe it’s not a bad idea too.
If you don’t have a microwave or prefer not to use it, you can bake in the oven for 18 to 22 minutes at 350°F instead.

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