Lunchbox Applesauce Cake is a reliable and fairly easy apple Bundt cake recipe that is guaranteed to make your house smell good. You can cut into it a few hours after it is baked and it will be delicious. However, it tastes even better on the second day, which makes it the perfect make-ahead cake. That's also part of the reason I put "lunchbox" in the name. It's the type of cake you can wrap individually and throw in a lunchbox the next day or maybe even throughout the week. The applesauce helps it stay fresh.
This is one great cake, especially if you are trying to use up some applesauce. It calls for 2 cull cups. The recipe is designed for a Bundt or fluted pan, but you could also divide it between two 8x4 inch loaf pans for two loaf shaped applesauce cakes. Or if you only have 1 cup of applesauce you need to use, you can easily cut the recipe in half.
Lunchbox Applesauce Cake Alternatives
Recipe
Lunchbox Applesauce Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, measured after sifting (280 grams)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 4 oz unsalted butter, room temperature (114 grams)
- 2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar (400 grams)
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups applesauce
- ½ cup golden raisins or use a mix of regular and golden
- 1 cup walnuts chopped and toasted
- Powdered sugar optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or 325 if using a black Bundt pan.
- After you’ve sifted the all purpose flour and measured out 2 ¼ cups, mix it with baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Grease the pan with shortening and dust with flour or spray with flour-added cooking spray.
- Beat the butter until creamy. Add the brown sugar and continue mixing. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla, then mix until well blended and fluffy.
- Add applesauce to the creamed mixture and stir well, then gently stir in the flour mixture, scraping batter up with a rubber scraper to ensure it’s incorporated. Fold in the raisins and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 45 minutes or until cake tests done.
- Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn on to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Amy says
Hey Anna, in case any of your devoted readers wondered...
If you flub up and use baking powder instead of baking soda, you still get a moist delicious cake. Don't ask me how I know this:)
Kim says
I loved Snackin' Cakes! They were one of the first things I was allowed to bake "on my own." This recipe totally reminds me of them!
Anna says
Sue, I had to eat the school lunch too. Maybe that's why I think of a construction worker instead of a cute, lucky child like Louise whose mom packed her applesauce cake.
Jennifer, I remember those! They were called Snackin' Cakes. I used to make those when I was a kid.
Mackenzie, I'll have to check your blog and see if you made it. I hope you try this recipe.
Snookydoodle, me too.
Karen, thanks! How did your Sweet & Salty Chocolate Cake from Baked turn out?
Darlene, I used the no-sugar kind. The Motts should be perfect.
Martha in KS says
Did you see a hunky construction worker named Lucky? They definitely were lucky to be chosen by you. The cake looks delicious. Do you think I could make it in a 9 x 13" pan? Thanks!
Darlene says
Your cake looks moist and delicious! I wish I had your willpower to give away more of my baked goods. Did you use regular applesauce? I only have Mott's Natural No Sugar Added right now.
Karen says
Reminds me of the carrot-applesauce bundt cake you did way way back, that recipe is OUTSTANDING and I just might have to dust it off and bake it again very soon!
snooky doodle says
yum i would like to have this in my lunch box if I was a kid. well even now 🙂
Debbi says
This looks great, I wish I had some nuts, I'd probably make it today. I know I wouldn't HAVE to have the nuts but I LIKE nuts in breads and cakes. Maybe hubby will go to the store...
Mackenzie@The Caramel Cookie says
You read my mind! I was just thinking about baking an applesauce cake!
Jennifer says
"...smells better and tastes better than a glade plug-in" LOL!
That does look delicious. For some reason it makes me think of those cakes that used to be a mix in a box, that came wtih a little (cardboard) pan to cook them in? Do you remember those? I wonder if there was an apple spice kind of one?
Louise says
My mom would have packed something like that for me in my little lunch box. 🙂
Sue says
hmmm. It makes me think of some really fortunate school kid's lunchbox. I always had to eat school lunch. 🙁
It looks fabulous and I'm sure it smells even better than it looks. I would have been jealous if the kid next to me had that cake and I had school lunch.