So, how did I get the idea for applesauce cake? Let me tell ya.
A couple of months ago I was listening to our public radio station as I was tooling around town running errands. While news is all important and good to know, I really listen for the human interest stories and stuff.
This particular day, I started listening in the middle of a show about food. Yum! They were talking to a woman about food she makes for her dad that makes him reminisce of his childhood. And then the topic moved to Irish cooking, applesauce cake and molasses cookies. And as I said a few posts ago, I am all about trying to get in touch with my Irish roots. Especially if it means making tasty food.
OK, what?!
Applesauce cake and molasses cookies. Yes, please!
Now, how in the world do I do that?
And although I love cookies, I love cake more. So applesauce cake is first on the list of tackling.
It took many tries, as usual for a baking recipe for me. (I am learning how the chemistry of baking works, so I get it eventually.)
I did it! And it is pretty darn awesome if I do say so myself. Well, LM also says so. It’s not just me. He gobbled it up. And wanted more.
That reminds me. I need to make it again. With all of my homemade applesauce and my other homemade applesauce sitting in my pantry, it is just asking to be made again.
“Please, please, please, turn me into applesauce cake.”
Um, ok. No problem.
Amazing Applesauce Cake
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Description
This applesauce cake is so simple to make and wonderfully good. It’s gluten free AND vegan. This applesauce cake makes a great treat. Just like Grandma’s.
Ingredients
- 2 Flax Eggs (Click here for how to make a flax egg.)
- 1 1/2 cup Applesauce
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup Grapeseed Oil
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1/2 cup Nuts (chopped and optional)
- 2 1/2 cups GF Flour Blend (click for recipe)
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tbs Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp allspice or cloves or ginger
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
Instructions
- Make flax eggs and set aside in the refrigerator.
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- Make flax eggs and stick in refrigerator.
- Mix applesauce and sugar.
- Add flax eggs, oil and vanilla. Mix. Add chopped nuts, if using.
- Mix rest of ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to wet ingredients. Don’t over mix.
- Bake in 8 ½ inch by 8 ½ inch pan for 35-40 minutes.
Notes
Eggs – If you can eat eggs and want to, just sub 2 regular eggs for the flax eggs.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
Other great apple recipes –
This cake looks fantastic, Tia! I love applesauce anything although I’m not a big fan of applesauce by itself. Crazy I know, but apples are my very favorite fruit so I guess it makes sense in that regard. 😉
Thanks for this recipe! xo,
Shirley
You are most welcome! Yeah, I love the apple, too. I love going to the orchard to pick them. Can’t make myself stop. And apple is always the flavor I pick of something if it is available.
~Tia
Ahh, this looks amazing! I haven’t had applesauce cake in forever. Must fix that!
Thanks for sharing with the Waste Not, Want Not link party!
You are welcome, Elise! I didn’t realize the joy of applesauce cake until recently. I think it will be around our house a lot.
~Tia
That cake looks so delicious! Can’t wait to give this one a try!
Thank you, Valerie! I hope you enjoy it.
~Tia
Tia,
How much water do you mix with the flax to make the flax eggs? Did I miss that in your recipe?
Whoa! You’re right. I totally missed that. It’s 5 tbs of water. I will change it. Thanks for pointing it out.
~Tia
Thanks, Tia! I hope to have time to try this cake this week — I do so miss having cake — it’s been FOREVER! (Other g/f cakes I’ve tried subbing flax eggs have been major disappointments.)
Yeah, I am a huge cake fan. It hasn’t been easy making cake with flax eggs, but I keep trying until I get it because I NEED my cake. 😉 I hope it works well for you.
~Tia
What is the measurement for the chopped apples?
Hi Laura,
I must have been completely out of it when I proofread. That was from an older version I tried. It was supposed to be taken out because it just wasn’t working with the apple chunks. So sorry. I will take it out.
~Tia
Ever made a 9 x 13 size? Do you have to use the flax seed?
Hi Tana,
I haven’t tried a 9 x 13, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. It will be thinner, and you will want to use less cooking time. As far as the flax seeds, I have only tried it with them, so I don’t know if it would work another way or not. If you are not concerned about it being vegan, you could try regular eggs. They should sub one for one, but I cannot guarantee. If you do try it and it works, please let me know. It’s always good to have options. 🙂
~Tia
Made that size. Baking time was 25 minutes for a perfect moist cake, but used the flaxseed and subbed sugar with coconut sugar.
Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays Party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what you share next time!
-Cindy
Would this work with regular flour?
Hi Sandi,
Maybe? I haven’t used regular flour since 2006, so I really don’t know. I don’t see why it wouldn’t, but I have no way of testing it. Sorry.
~Tia
I used eggs, extra virgin olive oil and a shop bought self raising gf flour, results were amazing! Absolutely delicious and remained moist for the 2 days it was around for!! Making it again for work mates for comic relief this Friday !!
Wow! So glad it worked out. I love how it worked even though you added back some of the stuff I have to take out. Whoo-hoo!
So I am wondering if you tried coconut flour instead of GF flour and how that turned out? Also, what about just buying Bob’s Red Mill brand GF flour? Would that work just as well as your homemade flour? This recipe sounds delicious & I’m excited to try it soon.
Hi Rebecca,
I am not sure about the Bob’s Red Mill flour, since I have not tried it. I don’t know why not, but I cannot guarantee.
As far as using just coconut flour, probably not. You would need to do adjusting on other stuff.And I don’t know what that exact adjusting would be. Coconut flour is drier and suck up moisture like crazy. Even when I have added just a little, I have had to really up the moisture content. And it still seems a bit dry to me.
Hope that helps.
~Tia
I made this cake today and was thoroughly pleased. I bought gf flour from Costco instead of making my own. (The brand they carry is Namaste Foods & it has sweet brown rice flour, tapioca starch, brown rice flour, arrowroot powder, sorghum flour & xanthan gum.) Also, I did 1/4tsp of allspice & 1/4tsp cloves. Next time I think I’ll just do the 1/2tsp of cloves. My family genuinely like it, huge success. Thank you & I’ve just got to say how completely impressed with the flax egg I am! Who knew ground flax could replace eggs. Amazing.
Yes, but use their newer blend called 1 to 1 gluten free baking flour, this one makes cakes and cookies even better than regular white flour. I has xanthan gum in the mix already too, but I still add it if the recipe calls for it just in case.
HOLY FREAKING CRAP THIS WAS INCREDIBLE!!!
I say “was” because it disappeared so fast. I don’t think I have ever come across a gluten-free vegan recipe that actually made my family ooo, ahhh and give off a little moans as they gobbled it down.
I have been instructed that I am to go to the grocery store first thing in the morning and obtain more ingredients to make a second cake for a family gathering this weekend.
Thank you so much! You have made this gluten-free vegan lifestyle doable in our home!
Oh my gosh! Thank you, so much! I am so glad you liked it. I had to read this comment to my husband because I almost cried. And the nice thing is once you find a recipe like this, you can start to tweak the flavors a bit to get different types of cakes. Thank you, again!
~Tia
I have made this recipe several times & absolutely love it!!! I have taken the next step in making this sugar free too by swapping coconut sugar for the brown sugar. I haven’t noticed any texture or taste difference. I would like to play around with the basic recipe & try using packed pumpkin & the spices that go with pumpkin pie, which is not so different from what’s already in this recipe. Would pumpkin work? What other variations have you tried?
I just made this cake and have to say it’s delicious, thank you so much for this recipe! I substituted the grapeseed oil for olive oil, and the nutmeg & allspice for a bag of chai tea as I didn’t have any on hand and it still turned out scrumptious 🙂
Made this tonight subbing EVOO (and baking just 30 minutes), and it was delicious! Wonderful taste and super moist, slightly dense texture that we loved. Definitely bookmarking this recipe!
I am disappointed. I used King Arthur GF flour and safflower oil. My cake came out dry, grainy and I so wanted it to be dripping moist. I make my own apple sauce and I even threw in some golden raisins. After reading all the other reviews, I have to believe it is the flour I chose. I use to make conventional apple sauce cake and it was ALWAYS delicious and moist, but thought this recipe intriguing. Bummer.
Try Bob’s Redmill One to One Gluten Free Baking Flour and it will come out just like with wheat flour. (Or better! I made two batches of cookies for an event recently, one with this flour and one with regular flour and everyone that tried both said the gluten free ones were even better!)
I made the cake with this flour and it came out very moist.
Dottie…..you may have over baked it.?
This cake was so good. Everyone in the family loved it. That never happens. I substituted canola oil for the grapseed because that’s what I had and I went easy on the nutmeg and allspice (personal preference). It turned out perfect! Thank you!
Just made this and it was SO GOOD!!! I subbed canola for grape seed oil b/c it was all I had, and I used a scant 1/8th tsp of cloves, allspice and ginger each. SO VERY GOOD!! Thank you!!!
So glad you liked it!
Hello,
I am making this cake right now and can’t wait to try it. I have a question. The texture of the dough came out on dry side, is that normal or should it be different?
How strange? Mine has never come out dry. Not the dough or the cake. Hmmm. I wonder what happened. It’s actually a pretty moist cake.
The final product came out delicious and moist. I used honey and maple syrup instead of brown sugar, so maybe the dough was dry because of that. Anyway I am very happy with the way it turned out! Thank you for the receipe, I will definitely make it again.
Made this today for my ranch crew and they really loved it – I’m in a remote location and didn’t have access to flax seed so I used egg replacer powder and it came out just lovely. My crew thought it was tasty and I was able to give my buckaroo with an egg allergy a nice treat. Thanks!
Excellent cake recipe.. My family loved it. It is very moist and easy to make
Thank you Tia!
This looks awesome! Can you tell me if I can sub 2 regular eggs for flax eggs?
Thanks!
DISREGARD…JUST SAW YOUR NOTE AT THE BOTTOM 🙂 THANKS!
This recipe sounds really good and I have tried flax eggs before. My big question is- why does this recipe contain so much sodium? After cutting back on a lot of sugar and losing weight, I now have to lower my sodium intake quite a bit. So by no means putting down this recipe, as I said it sounds great. Just curious on why it has so much sodium. Because I can’t see where in the ingred there even is much for sodium.
Hi Roxanne,
You know, I typed all of the ingredients into a program that figures out the nutritional value and spits out the little picture. I must have fat fingered the amount of sea salt and didn’t notice. I usually just look at the calories and see if they make sense and move on. Thanks for noticing.
~Tia
Where can you find the nutrition information on this recipe?
It was a program I hod to continuously pay for. As soon as I stopped paying, it went away.
This looks good. I have a son who is allergic to nuts, dairy, gluten, and eggs ever since he was born. He is 11 now, so basically, I have learned on how to make his food edible, and yummy. I have learned what to use to substitute on just about everything in a recipe that he couldn’t have. Applesauce is one of my best subs for eggs, for cakes, pancakes, muffins et ..so I’m definitely making this for another cake recipe he can enjoy. Thanks so much
Made this yesterday and it turned out perfect thanks! I didn’t find you on Instagram to tag you. Thanks again for the great recipe!
Glad it turned out. Yay! I’m CreatorTia on Instagram, now.
Sampled right out of the oven!! So yummy and moist. I will definitely be making again. I used 3/4 c coconut sugar and 1/4 c honey for brown sugar.. I did not have grapeseed oil so I used coconut oil. And I bake with Namaste flour..I added 1 tsp of ACV. This is the only recipe I have tried where it was not gummy in the middle..
I made 14 cupcakes and baked them for 30 ish minutes. Used a 2 cup combo of GF oat flour, arrowroot flour, tapioca, and a half cup of coconut flour with two “real” eggs and they were delicious. I overfilled the cups a bit because I was running out of cupcake liners but they could easily be stretched to 15. I would probably cut back the brown sugar next time simply because I am trying to limit my sugar intake, but this is a great recipe. Many thanks!
Hi Tia. Thanks for such a lovely recipe. The cake looks yum. I had recently made bread with applesauce hence would like to use mango puree instead. Do you think it will work well? Also do you think sorghum.flour is a good idea in place of the GF blend. Thanks again.
I haven’t worked with sorghum flour, so I’m not really sure. And I can’t work with mangoes since I discovered last year I am now very allergic to them. Which makes me sad because they are so good. You can try it and find out.
the BEST snacking cake, breakfast cake, or just yummy dessert warm with vanilla ice-cream! Took it to a girls’ weekend get together and everybody could enjoy – it met all criteria for all the different dietary restrictions.
I’ve made it several times- last time I added a streusel topping ( just use gf flour). Thank you so much- it’s moist and has loads of flavor. Easy to make! Freezes well! I’m making it again today since my house will be full for the holidays.
Hello! I came across your amazingly delicious looking recipe and am considering making it for my daughter’s 5th birthday party. I was curious, do you think this cake is stable enough to be made into a double layer cake with an icing or filling of sorts in between? Thank you!
Hi Stephani,
Unfortunately it has been a while since I made it, so I am not sure. But I noticed in a comment above someone made it in a 9×13 pan, so that would give me hope. It sounds like it would be absolutely yummy if it did work.
Can I make it without any type of flax egg or real egg? No egg or egg substitute
I do not use sugar at all. Will that make a difference since the dry ingredients will be less. Should I add more flour?