This Easy Applesauce Cake Tastes Like a Leaf-Peeping Trip to Vermont

Why It Works

Sprinkling crystallized ginger and sugar over the top of the batter creates sparkle, texture, and a burst of gingery flavor in every bite.

Snack cakes are my favorite kind of afternoon treat. They’re unfussy, practical, and always ready with minimal effort. Unlike a towering frosted layer cake, a snack cake doesn’t require ceremony. It can be baked on a whim, left on the counter, and cut into generous squares whenever you want.

And this time of year, when apples and applesauce are everywhere—farmers’ markets piled high with apples, leftover applesauce cups from lunchboxes, jars of homemade sauce from ambitious apple-picking weekends—I inevitably end up with more applesauce than I can eat straight. After I’ve had my fill of spooning it plain or swirling it into yogurt, I turn to this snack cake. It’s one of my favorite ways to use up applesauce. And if you don’t have applesauce on hand, it’s well worth buying or making some to make this cake.

But baking with applesauce comes with its own set of challenges. Too much liquid can leave the cake gummy and dense, while too little won’t deliver the apple flavor and plush texture I want. Honey, whose floral sweetness complements the applesauce beautifully, adds another layer of moisture to manage. After numerous tests, here’s how I solved those problems—and landed on a cake that’s moist, tender, and full of warm fall flavor.

Serious Eats / Debbie Wee

Making Applesauce Work

Applesauce brings both moisture and subtle apple flavor to this cake, but it can be tricky to bake with. As mentioned above, if too much is used, you risk ending up with a dense, gummy cake. Too little, and you miss out on the plush, tender crumb that makes a snack cake so satisfying. Through testing, I found that a full cup of applesauce was the ideal amount. It’s enough to provide a light apple flavor and plenty of moisture without weighing the cake down.

Applesauce also has a structural role in the cake. Thanks to its natural pectin (a soluble fiber found in fruit), it helps hold the crumb together and keeps the texture soft but cohesive instead of crumbly.

Just as important is the applesauce you start with. Whether homemade or store-bought, choose one you’d actually want to eat by the spoonful—unsweetened, smooth, and full of real apple flavor. If the applesauce tastes flat or watery on its own, it won’t taste any better in the cake.

Adding the Right Fat

While applesauce is excellent for adding moisture to cakes, it doesn’t do everything fat does. Fat keeps a cake tender, prevents chewiness, and carries flavor. Without it, applesauce alone can leave you with a dense or rubbery crumb. To complement the applesauce’s natural fruitiness, I use extra-virgin olive oil in this recipe. Because it’s a liquid fat, it whisks right in with the other wet ingredients—no stand mixer needed. The oil also adds brightness to the flavor and keeps the cake parve if you’re serving it as a fun table addition during Rosh Hashanah. The result is a cake that’s plush and tender, not gummy or flat-tasting.

Serious Eats / Debbie Wee

Managing Honey’s Extra Moisture

Honey adds a floral sweetness that pairs beautifully with applesauce and ginger, but it also comes with technical challenges. Honey is hygroscopic, which means it attracts and holds onto water. That helps keep the cake moist for days, but adding honey on top of the applesauce and liquid fat in this recipe introduces even more fluid into the mix, raising the risk of a heavy or collapsed cake.

Sugar adds to the problem, too—while it looks dry, it acts like a liquid in baking, drawing in and holding onto moisture. Too much sugar, combined with honey and applesauce, would have left the cake wet and heavy. To make it work, I scaled back the sugar to reduce that excess moisture and fine-tuned the leavening so the cake could rise properly without ballooning and sinking. The result is a cake that stays soft, lifted, and moist—but not dense.

Finding Flavor Balance

Applesauce has a mild flavor that can fade into the background if it isn’t given support. To build complexity, I added complementary flavors that highlight its natural fruitiness. Fresh ginger adds warmth, while lemon zest brightens the cake. Vanilla rounds everything out in the background. And for a finishing touch, I sprinkle chopped crystallized ginger on top before baking. It adds sparkle, a slight chew, and a punch of gingery flavor that ties the whole cake together.

Once baked, the cake is fragrant, pleasantly sweet, and complex enough to keep you coming back for another slice at snack time.

Serious Eats / Debbie Wee