Light and airy while still moist and tender, my Applesauce Cake is a picture-perfect vegan sponge cake. This one-bowl cake recipe takes fewer than 10 ingredients and just 10 minutes of active time to assemble, meaning a delicious dessert is never far from reach!
Table of Contents
About Applesauce Cake
When I gave up eating eggs many years ago, I was worried that my cakes would never be the same. Luckily, this applesauce cake recipe makes for a darn good vegan version of a sponge cake — it is light, tender, and spongy. While it isn’t quite as spongy or springy as cakes made with eggs, it is a more than acceptable substitute.
The applesauce in this egg-free cake recipe is actually used as a replacement for the eggs rather than as a flavoring component.
You honestly can’t even tell that apples are used! Instead, it tastes like a plain vanilla sponge cake, leaving you plenty of leeway for flavor customization.
I have a different version of vanilla sponge cake made with condensed milk if you prefer that to applesauce. You can check the recipe here – Pressure Cooker Cake.
This recipe is heavily modified from my cooking school notes. In the original recipe, 3 eggs were added. In this case, I substituted ¼ cup of homemade Applesauce for each egg. I also added a mixture of both vinegar and baking soda to help with the rise of the cake.
Perhaps the best attribute of this easy applesauce cake recipe is how quick it is to mix up. As a vegan recipe, there is no creaming required.
Everything can be mixed up in a single bowl in just 10 minutes! As a result, this is a recipe I turn to time and again when we are in need of a little something sweet after dinner.
This vegan sponge cake can be used as a base for gateaus or for making frosted cakes like my Black Forest Cake, Pineapple Cake, and Strawberry Cream Cake. If you love a simple vanilla cake, then you might also like my Eggless Vanilla Cake recipe.
It is also delicious plain. Usually, I make sponge cakes to be served with our evening tea or coffee. Feel free to dress it up for company by adding a dollop of chantilly (sweetened whipped cream), sweetened yogurt, some lemon curd, chocolate sauce, or fresh berries.
How To Make Applesauce Cake
Note – the step-by-step photos were taken at night.
Prep and Make Applesauce Mixture
1. Grease a loaf pan measuring 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches with oil or butter. You can also use a round pan of 7 or 7.5 inches diameter.
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit 15 minutes before you start baking. For baking in the convection mode of the microwave oven, use 170 degrees Celsius/330 degrees Fahrenheit as the preheat temperature.
In a mixing bowl, add ¾ cup unsweetened applesauce, ¼ cup oil, and ¾ cup sugar.
2. With a wired whisk, stir this mixture so well that the oil is incorporated evenly and the sugar has dissolved.
3. Now add 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (or regular vinegar or lemon juice) to the wet mixture.
4. Stir and mix again very well.
Make Cake Batter
5. Sieve the dry ingredients listed below directly in the bowl containing the wet ingredients:
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch of salt
6. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 scraped vanilla bean.
7. Fold the dry ingredients in the wet ingredients lightly. Don’t overdo it, or you’ll risk ending up with a tough, dense cake.
8. The batter should feel light. here’s the batter ready to go in a greased pan.
Bake Applesauce Cake
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
10. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 to 40 minutes. If the top starts to get browned too early during baking, then lightly tent it with foil or butter paper and continue to bake.
Depending on the temperature conditions in your oven, it may take less or more time. The final check is a golden top and a toothpick or wooden skewer coming out clean.
For baking in the convection mode of a microwave oven, use the temperature of 170 degrees Celsius/330 degrees Fahrenheit. Again the baking time will vary in the convection mode of your microwave oven
11. Once baked and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.
Now remove the cake from the pan and place on a wired rack or tray for the sponge cake to cool down.
12. Here’s the photo of the cake in daylight. Slice and serve this eggless sponge cake with milk, tea or coffee. Enjoy!
Expert Tips & Tricks
- Baking soda and baking powder cannot be substituted for each other.
- Oil gives cakes a really good, light texture. Be sure to use a neutral oil like vegetable, corn, canola, or peanut oil.
- The recipe cannot be doubled or halved.
- This cake can be made in the convection mode of a microwave oven. Not sure about pressure cooker method. You will have to experiment on your own.
- The recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, but you can add 1 tablespoon of either regular vinegar or lemon juice in place of apple cider vinegar.
- Whole wheat flour might not work in this recipe. If you want to try, then I suggest adding half-half of both all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour.
Optional Variations
This light and fluffy applesauce cake recipe is pretty perfect as written, but there are plenty of opportunities to customize it. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Change the size & shape by using a different baking tin. Most any cake recipe can be adjusted to fit the size cake pan you have on hand with the help of a little math. This recipe works well with a standard loaf pan or a 7-7.5″ round tin, but can also be adjusted for making muffins/cupcakes.
- Fold in any add-ons you like. If you want to add a bit of flavor or crunch to this cake recipe, feel free! Try adding warming spices like ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, or clove for more of an “apple” flavored applesauce cake. You can also fold in toasted nuts, dried fruits, or chocolate chips as you wish.
- Frost it. Adding some buttercream or cream cheese frosting will immediately turn this simple vegan sponge cake from an “everyday cake” into a masterpiece!
FAQs
Absolutely! It will keep well in the refrigerator for about 10 to 12 days, or in the freezer for up to a month.
It might have something to do with the quality of your flour. Make sure you are using relatively fresh all-purpose flour (maida). I don’t recommend making this recipe with whole wheat flour (atta) because it absorbs more liquid than all-purpose.
Also, make sure to not over-mix the batter. Mixing creates gluten strands, and if you overdo it on mixing, you’ll end up with too much gluten thus resulting in a dense cake.
You sure can. Feel free to omit it entirely, or replace it with a natural version like brown sugar, coconut sugar, jaggery, or maple syrup.
Sure! If using butter, first mix the sugar with the applesauce until the sugar dissolves. Then add the butter and with an electric beater beat very well till the mixture is uniform and smooth before proceeding with the recipe. If using salted butter then skip adding a pinch of the salt to the batter.
More Cakes To Try!
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Applesauce Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour – 185 grams
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- ¾ cup Applesauce – unsweetened
- ¼ cup oil – use oil which has a neutral taste and flavor
- ¾ cup raw sugar or regular white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla powder or 1 scraped vanilla bean
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or regular vinegar or lemon juice
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, take applesauce, oil and sugar.
- With a wired whisk, stir this mixture so well that the oil is incorporated evenly.
- Now add the apple cider vinegar or regular vinegar or lemon juice to this wet mixture.
- Preheat the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F before you begin baking the cake.
- Sieve the dry ingredients – all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and a pinch of salt directly in the bowl having the wet ingredients.
- Add vanilla powder or scraped vanilla bean or vanilla extract.
- Fold the dry ingredients in the wet ingredients lightly. Don’t over do.
- The batter should feel light.
- Pour the batter in the prepared pan.
- Bake at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F in a preheated oven for 35 to 40 mins.
- Once baked and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, remove the cake from the pan after it cools a bit and then place on a wired rack or tray for the sponge cake to cool down.
- Each oven has a different baking time, so keep this in mind. The cake can take less or more time in your oven to bake.
- Slice and serve this eggless cake with milk, tea or coffee.
Notes
- If you plan to use sweetened applesauce than adjust the sugar as needed.
- Both baking powder and baking soda are needed in this applesauce cake recipe and cannot be interchanged.
- Note that the approximate nutrition info is for 1 applesauce cake loaf.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Applesauce Cake post from the archives first published in March 2015 has been republished and updated on 5 May 2022.
hi …… your cooking style is super. i like it
…. can i make this cake in microwave ????
i am not sure whether this cake can be made in the microwave. but you can try.
hi Tanu,
did you try microwaving?
btw dassana, tried your eggless vanilla cake. tasted great.
any suggestions on how to make it spongier?
I have not tried microwaving this cake. For the vanilla cake try adding a few more tablespoons of the curd. It will be more softer but not spongier.
Hi Amit,
Thanks – tried the sponge cake again. I had to microwave on full power for, say, 4 minutes
Thanks for your recipes – your site is my go-to when i want to make anything new. (or old also sometimes)! Looking forward to making more! 🙂
thanks for letting me know swathi. so this means that this cake can be done in the microwave. welcome swathi 🙂
Hi! I’m a huge fan of your recipes. I strictly follow your ingredient measurements to the dot and it never fails. I’m quite new to baking, and tried your basic eggless vanilla cake last week for Hubby’s birthday and it was a super hit! I couldn’t find a place to comment on the respective page though.. Don’t know why. Anyway I tried it in my basic rice cooker as I don’t have an electric oven at home. it turned out really really good!! In fact it’s the best ever sponge cake I’ve had in my entire life! 🙂 Thank you so much for posting such lovely recipes. your blog is a really good guide to beginners like me.
thanks you ambika for these kind words. we have closed comments on most older recipes due to lack of time. good to know that the cake turned out so well in a rice cooker. i am curious to know how did you bake in the rice cooker. did you add water in the cooker or baked without water?
I baked without water, of course, just like cooking rice in these electric cookers. it took nearly 45 minutes to bake, between which I had to deliberately switch to the ‘Cook’ mode from ‘warm’ three times totally. I’m sure the oven would’ve been even better, but this was absolutely good enough for me :). Thank you.
thanks ambika for letting me know.
Hi
I really appreciate your site, the way you have presented your recipe’s along with the pictures make the site very much user friendly and I did try few of your recipe’s and they turned out awesome. I live in Taiwan and here Baking Powder is not available in any stores they sell Baking Soda and Yeast, could you please let me know what can be used instead of Baking powder or if possible can you provide a cake recipe which doesn’t require Baking Powder and Flavouring Essence is used.
thanks kimi. you can try making the cake with two third (2/3rd) tsp of baking soda. not sure but i think it should work. because if you use 3/4 or 1 tsp you will get the soapy smell of baking soda in the cake.
Hi,
I am new to baking. I just wanna ask u about the mould u have used in this recipe.m surely gonna try it so pls let me know whether I can use aluminium loaf pan for the above in convection mode???
sonam, you can use a baking safe loaf pan in the convection mode.
Hi I have tried ur every cake recipe except the banana ones & ur every recipe came out as perfect as urs(shown in pcs by u)….thanks a ton! Just FYI ur all cake recipes can be baked in cooker;yes one has to keep on check like after 20 min or something ; I baked almost all cake baking recipe of its in my cooker(:
welcome summi. good to know this. thanks for sharing your experience.