Fancy cakes swirled with frosting, piped with roses and ombre hued are always a treat for the eyes and belly, but if you’re time is limited, or you just 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 – time challenged – bakers. This one bowl apple cake can be made with or without an electric mixer and the pure, simple ingredients in this applesauce cake are probably ones you already have on hand. This Applesauce Walnut Cake is snacking nirvana!
This recipe is adapted from my grandmother’s applesauce cake. It’s lightly spiced, moist, fragrant and studded with crunchy toasted walnuts and sweet flecks of golden raisins. And it’s easy. Really easy.
Applesauce Cake Ingredients
- Flour
- Sugar
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Allspice
- Cloves
- Applesauce
- Vegetable Oil
- Egg
- Walnuts
- Golden Raisins
See, nothing out of the ordinary here. The ingredients for this one bowl applesauce cake are pantry staples.
How To Make One Bowl Apple Cake
- Combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt & spices) and whisk together.
- Add the wet ingredients (applesauce, vegetable oil, egg) and mix to combine.
- Stir in the walnuts and golden raisins.
- Pour into a prepared pan.
- Bake.
Homemade Applesauce Cake – The Best Snack Cake Recipe
This one bowl apple cake is just as easy as a cake mix, but with far better results. Of course, there’s nothing artificial. No preservatives and if you are comfortable measuring and stirring, you’ll have success here. My grandmother used to have this one bowl apple cake on hand when we came to visit and we loved it because it was tender and soft, lightly spiced and it didn’t require a fork and plate to eat. Just a free hand and an open mouth is all you need for this family snack cake recipe.
Adorning The Applesauce Walnut Cake
If you prefer an unembellished applesauce cake, feel free to leave out the raisins and walnuts. We like them for flavor and texture, but if you’re a purist, that’s cool too. Either way, this applesauce cake will be a winner. We like ours with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, but it’s also good with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla.
I like to line my baking pans with parchment paper for easy, reliable removal.
Baking One-Bowl Apple Cake
- Just cut a piece of parchment to match the width of the pan with some overhang on either side.
- Spray the pan with vegetable spray, press the parchment paper into the pan and spray again.
- Spread the apple cake batter into the pan and bake.
The whole house smells wonderful as this cake bakes and you’re probably not going to want to wait for it to cool before lopping off a piece. That’s up to you.
Can I Frost Applesauce Walnut Cake?
If you’re feeling adventurous you could frost it with a cream cheese frosting or buttercream. That would awesome too. I didn’t have the patience this time and went with the sprinkle of powdered sugar. Even though there’s only two of us in the house, this applesauce cake was gone in two days. No lie!
More Snack Cake Recipes:
- One Bowl Gingerbread Snacking Cake
- Myne’s Easy Yellow Cake Recipe
- Ultra Moist Zucchini Bread
- Small Carrot Walnut Cake
One-Bowl Applesauce Walnut Snack Cake
ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated if you have it)
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 3/4 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1 cup walnuts toasted and chopped
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 9x9" 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 the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves, whisk to combine. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the applesauce, vegetable oil and egg. Stir until just combined. Stir in the walnuts and 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 or buttercream frosting or just dust with powdered sugar.
Nutrition
Pin “One-Bowl Applesauce Walnut Cake” For Later!
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!
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!
It’s my go-to applesauce cake and it doesn’t suck!