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This applesauce cake is super moist, soft, and fluffy. Made with unsweetened applesauce and autumn spices, then topped with a maple cream cheese frosting, it is truly the epitome of autumn baking!
Here is a cake that is autumn personified. With the applesauce cake that is perfectly spiced with autumnal spices. Then, it is topped with spice maple cream cheese frosting. The spices complement the apple flavor. This cake will please everyone of all ages. I personally couldn’t stop eating it! Perfect for weeknight desserts, potlucks, and bake sales!
Looking for more perfectly spiced apple recipes? I have you covered! My apple cider donuts, apple cinnamon rolls, and spiced apple scones are perfect for your morning coffee or tea, or an afternoon snack!
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Applesauce Cake Recipe
- Made with brown butter! Using brown butter in this applesauce cake is truly game-changing. It complements the applesauce and dark brown sugar well and gives this cake a slightly nutty taste without adding nuts!
- Moist and tender apple cake. Making the cake with applesauce, dark brown sugar, and brown butter really makes a moist cake that will stay moist for days to come.
- Perfectly paired with maple cream cheese frosting. The cake is absolutely delicious by itself, but I wanted to take it up a notch and make it irresistible. So I thought, what does it need? And obviously the answer was maple cream cheese frosting!
Professional Tips for Making Applesauce Spice Cake
- Allow the cake to cool fully before adding the frosting. Cream cheese frosting is usually pretty soft to begin with, so you want to make sure your cake is fully cooled before adding the frosting. Otherwise, it could just melt or side right off.
- Brown the butter before scaling the other ingredients. When using brown butter in baking, you want to give it time to cool before using it. Making it beforehand gives it time to cool and allows you to keep an eye on it.
- When making the frosting, make sure the butter and cream cheese are softened. If they are both cold, microwave them separately in 5-10 second intervals until they soften. If you try to mix them cold, the cream cheese will come to temp first, and you will have specs of butter that will never mix in.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Unsalted Butter: Browning the butter will add a nice nutty flavor to the cake. You may also use melted butter. Just reduce it to 140g.
- Granulated Sugar: The granulated sugar in this cake is here for flavor reasons but also to retain moisture and improve texture and stability.
- Dark Brown Sugar: Dark brown sugar adds sweetness and a little moisture. This will keep the brown butter applesauce cake soft while adding a nice, rich molasses flavor. Coconut sugar or light brown sugar can be substituted if desired.
- Unsweetened Applesauce: I use organic unsweetened applesauce for a bit of moisture, apple flavor, and natural sweetness. If you can only find sweetened apple sauce, reduce the sugar by 2-3 tablespoons.
- Large Eggs: The eggs add fat, moisture and leavening. The fat from the yolk adds richness and helps keep the cake moist. Eggs also emulsify the batter and keep everything texturally perfect.
- Vanilla Extract
- All-purpose Flour: All-purpose flour has the right amount of gluten to make a tender cake. You can substitute King Arthur’s cup 4 cup for a gluten-free version.
- Baking Powder: Baking powder gives a more even rise than baking soda.
- Kosher Salt
- Ground Cinnamon, Ginger, and Clove: You can substitute with my apple pie spice mix which includes allspice, or this speculoos spice mix.
- Cream Cheese: I use original Philadelphia Cream Cheese for all my frostings and buttercreams. I also use full fat, though reduced fat can be substituted. Just ensure that it is not whipped. Whipped will make the frosting too soft.
- Confectioner’s Sugar
- Maple Syrup: I use pure Vermont maple syrup. They have changed the rating system, but I use what used to be “Grade B,” which is now “Grade A: dark amber color and robust flavor.” It has the best flavor and is thicker than the lower grades. You can also use “Grade A: Very Dark and Strong Flavor, but it is generally very expensive and difficult to find.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
- Change the frosting. Top the cake with caramel buttercream, chocolate buttercream frosting, or spiced whipped cream.
- Add mix-ins. The first thought, of course, is to add apples. You could even coat them in cinnamon sugar like in my Jewish apple cake. Adding toasted pecans, chopped walnuts, or almonds would add a great crunch.
- Applesauce cake cupcakes. Bake this cake in a lined muffin tin and pipe or spoon the frosting on top for cute individual applesauce cupcakes.
How to Make Homemade Applesauce Cake
Use these instructions to make the perfectly moist applesauce cake every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Brown the butter:
Step 1: In a small saucepan over low heat melt the butter. Small cubed butter will move the process along faster.
Step 2: Then slowly continue cooking it, stirring occasionally until the solids have browned, the melted butter turns a light amber color, and the whole thing smells like toasted buttered hazelnuts.
You can also test to ensure your butter is properly browned by taking your spatula and scraping the bottom. Once you see brown specks, you are ready. These are the caramelized milk solids.
Step 3: Remove from heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl to stop the cooking. Allow to cool while you measure and prepare the batter. When the butter is browned, it weighs 140g.
Make and bake the cake:
Step 4: Preheat the oven to 350°F conventional (no fan). Spray with nonstick spray or butter a 9 x9 inch pan or baking dish and line with parchment paper.
I like to line with one strip that overlaps the sides for easy removal, but you could also just line the bottom.
Step 5: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and ground spices. Set aside.
Step 6: In a separate large bowl, whisk together browned butter, still warm, sugars, eggs, vanilla and applesauce. Whisk vigorously until smooth.
Step 7: Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined. Careful not to over mix or it could cause tunneling in the cake.
Step 8: Pour into the prepared pan and spread it into the corners and flatten with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon.
Step 9: Bake in the preheated oven for 28-35 minutes or until a cake tester, toothpick, or wooden skewer comes out clean. The cake should spring back when lightly pressed.
Step 10: Cool in the pan before frosting on a wire rack.
Make the maple cream cheese frosting:
Step 11: In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
If your butter or cream cheese isn’t at room temperature, beat them in the stand mixer separately and then combine them. Start with the cream cheese and remove it, then the butter, and then you can combine them.
Step 12: Add maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon and beat well.
Step 13: Spread on cooled cake. Slice and serve!
Chef Lindsey’s Recipe Tip
Using lower-grade maple syrup will add sweetness and make the frosting looser, but it won’t add very much maple flavor. I suggest using grade-A maple syrup for this purpose. It is thicker and will give you that nice, robust maple flavor in your frosting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store the applesauce cake well-wrapped in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Pre-slicing the cake before freezing will make it easier to thaw as many or as few slices as you want.
Brown butter really gives this cake a well-rounded flavor, but it can most definitely be made with melted butter. You just want to reduce it to 140g.
It is even better the next day, so it can most definitely be made in advance. For easier storage, you can store the baked cake and frosting separately and assemble them when you need them!
Top it with candied pecans, easy apple compote, or both. It would also be delicious with a caramel sauce drizzle.
If you tried this recipe and loved it please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I love hearing from you; your comments make my day!
Applesauce Cake
Ingredients
For the moist cake:
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups unsweetened applesauce
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
For the maple cream cheese frosting:
- 8 oz brick-style cream cheese full fat, softened
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup or more to taste (be careful, it will make it loose!)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
Brown the butter:
- In a small saucepan over low heat melt the butter. Small cubed butter will move the process along faster.
- Then slowly continue cooking it, stirring occasionally until the solids have browned, the melted butter turns a light amber color, and the whole thing smells like toasted buttered hazelnuts.
- Remove from heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl to stop the cooking. Allow to cool while you measure and prepare the batter. When the butter is browned, it weighs 140g.
Make and bake the cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F conventional (no fan). Spray with nonstick spray or butter a 9 x9 inch pan or baking dish and line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and ground spices. Set aside.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together browned butter, still warm, sugars, eggs, vanilla and applesauce. Whisk vigorously until smooth.
- Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined. Careful not to over mix or it could cause tunneling in the cake.
- Pour into the prepared pan and spread it into the corners and flatten with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 28-35 minutes or until a cake tester, toothpick, or wooden skewer comes out clean. The cake should spring back when lightly pressed.
- Cool in the pan before frosting on a wire rack.
Make the maple cream cheese frosting:
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
- Add maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon and beat well.
- Spread on cooled cake. Slice and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this professional chef-tested apple recipe. Check out our other deliciously easy apple recipes, such as caramel apple cupcakes, easy apple crisp, and apple energy bites.
