Applesauce Spice Cake
Inside: How to make a quick applesauce cake in a single bowl; no beaters, mixers or heavy equipment required. Plus, fun mix-ins and toppings to spruce it up.
Spiced apple cake is a quick, easy snack that satisfies your sweet tooth. The recipe takes about 15 minutes to assemble, and you probably already have the ingredients for this applesauce spice cake on hand.
Applesauce is one of the simplest, most homey things. McIntosh applesauce is THE best with pork chops, and the warm, spiced scent of these applesauce muffins will wake everyone up on a Saturday morning.
This recipe makes the best old-fashioned applesauce cake. Not because it’s a multi-layered, intricately decorated show-stopper; but because it’s NOT.
Fancy cakes swirled with frosting, piped with roses, and ombre-hued are always a treat for the eyes, but if you’re time is limited, or you don’t have the energy, an easy snack cake recipe is where it’s at. “Simple and unfussy” is like a siren call to us lazy, er, um, time-challenged bakers.
This applesauce spice cake is adapted from my grandmother’s applesauce cake recipe and is so easy. It’s lightly spiced with pantry spices and makes a moist, fragrant snack cake.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- It’s a true old-fashioned applesauce cake that’s easy to make from everyday ingredients.
- Mix everything in one bowl.
- It’s a great after school snack or lunchbox treat because it doesn’t require frosting and travels well.
- It’s a wholesome dessert that the whole family will love.
- It’s adaptable to mix-ins like toasted walnuts, raisins and more.
Applesauce Spice Cake Ingredients:
- Flour–I use King Arthur Flour, unbleached all-purpose white flour.
- Granulated Sugar–you could also use brown sugar; the cake would be darker.
- Baking Powder–for leavening.
- Baking Soda – a second leavener (accidentally omitted from the ingredient shot).
- Salt–Use iodized salt instead of Kosher salt for baking. It’s finer and disperses more evenly in the batter.
- Ground Cinnamon–I use a teaspoon ground cinnamon, so it’s the dominant spice. Ensure your cinnamon is fragrant; if it’s been sitting in the spice cabinet for two years, you won’t get much flavor.
- Ground Nutmeg–I buy whole nutmeg and grate it on a microplane for the most potent flavor.
- Ground Cloves–you don’t need a lot, but they add a punch to the applesauce spice cake.
- Ground Allspice–this is optional, but if you have some on hand, use it.
- Ground Ginger–another optional spice, but good.
- Applesauce–skip the sweetened or cinnamon-spiced applesauce and use plain, unsweetened.
- Vegetable Oil–or Canola oil. Because butter is 18% water, replacing butter with oil means there’s more fat left in the cake, ensuring the crumb is tender.
- Large Eggs–for moisture and structure of the crumb.
Step-by-step instructions:
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice (if using) and ginger (if using). Whisk to combine.
2. Make a depression or well in the center of the dry ingredients.
3. Pour the applesauce, beaten egg and vegetable oil into the well.
4. Use a spatula or electric mixer to blend the applesauce spice cake batter until it’s combined and no dry bits of flour are left. If you’re adding mix-ins like nuts or raisins, do it now.
You don’t need to break out the stand mixer for this recipe.
5. Spread the applesauce cake mixture in a prepared pan. If you like, you can line it with parchment paper to make it easy to remove.
6. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick stuck into the center of the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs. Transfer the cake to a wire baking rack to cool before decorating.
Pro-Tips:
- If your cakes tend to stick, line the baking pan with parchment paper and lightly spray it with vegetable spray before pouring in the batter.
- It’s important to let the cake cool completely before adding any embellishment, such as frosting or powdered sugar.
Swaps and Variations:
- Though my grandmother’s recipe doesn’t call for it, you could add ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract.
- Adding a cup of toasted chopped walnuts and ½-cup golden raisins is my favorite addition.
- A quick dusting of confectioner’s sugar is a fast and easy garnish.
- If you want to add icing, I recommend this Classic Cream Cheese Frosting, fluffy Ermine Frosting or buttercream.
- Add a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla to serve for family dessert.
- Spoon caramel sauce over cake slices.
- Other fun mix-ins include toasted pecans, sweetened dried cranberries or currants.
- If you like baking chips, add ½ cup of mini chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips or cinnamon chips.
FAQs
This recipe doesn’t use applesauce to replace oil or other wet ingredients, though you can replace the oil or fat in some cake recipes with applesauce for a lighter, healthier version.
A small amount of brown sugar and a squeeze of lemon or lime can bring out applesauce’s natural flavors. Sprinkling a bit of cinnamon over applesauce adds a warm flavor.
If you have nonstick bakeware, a spritz of vegetable spray should work. Otherwise, cut a piece of parchment to the size of the pan, leaving extra on each side, like a sling. Spray the parchment, then fill the pan with cake batter to ensure no sticking.
Storage:
- The applesauce spice cake can be kept for 2-3 days at room temperature on the counter, covered with plastic wrap.
Freezing:
- Double-wrap the cake (or individual portions of it), in plastic wrap followed by freezer paper for up to 2-3 months.
- Defrost at room temperature before enjoying.
The whole house smells wonderful as this applesauce spice cake bakes, and you probably won’t want to wait for it to cool before lopping off a piece. That’s up to you.
Even though only two of us were in the house, this dessert was gone in two days. No lie!
At its core, this simple applesauce spice cake is a no-nonsense snack cake. Lop off a square and enjoy it as is. You’ll love how satisfying and unfussy it is.
More apple cakes and dessert recipes:
More snack cake recipes:
Applesauce Spice Cake
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated if you have it)
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon allspice optional
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger optional
- 1¾ cups unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 large lightly beaten egg
- 1 cup walnuts toasted and chopped
- ½ cup golden raisins
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 9×9″ square baking pan with vegetable spray and line it with a rectangular piece of parchment paper cut to fit the dimensions of the bottom of the pan with several inches on either side to hang over the edges. Spray the parchment paper with vegetable spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl combine 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves, as well as ¼ teaspoon allspice, and ¼ teaspoon ground ginger , if using. Whisk to combine.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and add 1¾ cups unsweetened applesauce, 1 large lightly beaten egg and ½ cup canola or vegetable oil. Stir until just combined.
- If you're adding the mix-ins, stir in 1 cup walnuts and ½ cup golden raisins and spread into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes then carefully lift the cake with the sides of the parchment paper and transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
- You can frost with your favorite cream cheese frosting or try this ermine frosting or just dust with powdered sugar.
RECIPE VIDEO:
NOTES:
NUTRITION:
Pin It For Later!
Amazing! Used gluten-free flour and didn’t even toast the walnuts. Baked in 8”x8” glass pan for 60 minutes. Perfectly baked…perfectly spiced. We loved it. Oh, and I made my own applesauce to use in it! Heavenly!
As I’m not a fan of raisins and didn’t happen to have any walnuts at the time, I swapped them for diced apples, which I coated in a little of the flour mixture so they wouldn’t all sink to the bottom of the cake. Applesauce and apples — perfect!
I replaced the sugar with swerve, since I am diabetic. Still lovely. Didn’t have raisins, so substituted currents. Will certainly make again. Easy!!
So glad you enjoyed it, Diane!
Hi Diane. I am also diabetic. I will substitute Splenda for the sugar. I am looking for lots of things that meet my requirements, so I am very excited to try this.
Use Baking-Specific Splenda: Use the Splenda Granulated or a Splenda baking blend. Do not bake with standard Splenda packets, as they contain fillers that will alter your baking.
Delicious! So moist. Great way to use up applesauce for those of us with apple trees and lots of apples to use. It seemed like a lot of oil to me and I was wondering if less oil could be used. I might try to reduce the oil/increase the apple sauce next time.
Can this cake be made in a bundt pan? Looks delicious!
Hi Donna! A 10″ bundt pan holds 12 cups of batter. A 9″ square baking pan holds 8 cups. You would need to make 1 1/2 batches of this recipe to fill your bundt pan — and obviously the cooking time would need to be adjusted.
My boyfriend and I loved this cake, the spice mix was amazing. I was impressed at how quick it was to make and only took one bowl. I also liked that it called for oil and not softened butter, also a time saver. We left out the nuts and frosted with cream cheese frosting. Thanks so much for sharing, I will make this again.
So happy that you and your boyfriend enjoyed it! That cream cheese frosting sounds like a decadent addition!
I seriously… basically.. only bake when I’m snowed in lol. So it needs to be easy, because I’ll be out of practice. This looks perfect.. it’s making me hungry!!
I hope you enjoy it Sarah! It’s REALLY easy!
I absolutely love convenient, delicious one bowl cakes like these. Because sometimes (a lot of the time), it’s late and I want a slice of something sweet and just don’t have the energy for complicated baking. The crumb on this cake looks fantastic!