Applesauce Cake
This applesauce cake is soft, moist and naturally sweetened with maple syrup. It's loaded with fall spices and topped with a delicious cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose or white whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup pure maple syrup or honey
- ¼ cup avocado oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup chopped nuts or raisins optional
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese full fat, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup Greek yogurt I used plain full fat
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan or line it with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the unsweetened applesauce, maple syrup or honey, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth and well combined.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Gently stir in the chopped nuts or raisins if using.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread it evenly. Bake for 22-27 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While cake is cooling, make cream cheese frosting by adding all ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer on medium speed to whip all the ingredients together until smooth and fluffy (about 5 minutes), scraping down the sides as needed. If your frosting is turning out runny, just keep whipping it and it should turn out thick and fluffy. Alternatively, you can use a stand mixer.
- Once the cake has cooled, top with cream cheese frosting. Cut into squares and serve.
Notes
- Make it gluten-free: I haven't tested it, but you could try a gluten-free all purpose blend for the flour in this recipe.
- Make it vegan: I haven’t tried it, but you could try swapping the eggs with flax eggs or chia eggs to make this cake vegan. And you'll want to swap the frosting with a dairy-free option. Let me know if you try it in the comments below!
- Make it dairy-free: To make this cake dairy-free, skip the frosting all together or you can use dairy-free cream cheese and yogurt alternatives for the frosting.
- Swap the frosting: I love the cinnamon cream cheese frosting, but you can certainly use your favorite homemade or store-bought frosting. This vanilla buttercream frosting or peanut butter yogurt frosting would also be delicious options!
Nutrition
Serving: 1 piece (no mix-in's) | Calories: 244kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 239mg | Potassium: 90mg | Sugar: 16g