How To Make Moist Applesauce Cake Recipe & Cream Cheese Frosting

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5 from 1 vote

Moist Applesauce Cake that melts in your mouth, when the air is cooling off in the fall, and the evenings get crip outside! Serves 16

The apples are ripe in the local orchards and a great price to stock up on. We’ll be canning an abundance of homemade applesauce, and this moist cake is on top of our applesauce recipes list!

applesauce cake with recipe text

What Makes This Moist Applesauce Cake Recipe The Best?

Applesauce cake is a great recipe for a moist cake, but when you add sour cream, pecans and tart apple slices it becomes a melt in your mouth delicacy!

The chopped pecans inside the cake and on top add a great texture. And the cooked apple slices inside the cake are a moist and pleasant surprise…

You just can’t buy moist applesauce cake this good!

Tools You Will Need

  • Large Bowl
  • Rubber Spatula
  • Wire Rack
  • Electric Mixer or Stand mixer (optional, but make it so much easier)
  • Parchment Paper (optional)
  • 2 Circular Cake Pans
  • Hot Pads

Easy Applesauce Cake Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and move rack to center of oven.
  2. Prepare 2 round cake pans with butter and flour dusting or with parchment paper.
  3. Peel 1 apple and slice thin. Simmer apple slices in a shallow pan of water till tender, then drain and set aside. (You can also use 1 cup of canned apple slices and skip this step!)
  4. In a large bowl, or bowl of a stand mixer, cream together half a cup of room temperature butter with 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of applesauce, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of sour cream and a teaspoon of vanilla.
  5. In a separate bowl add 2 cups of all purpose flour with 1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 a tsp ground cloves, and mix to combine.
  6. . Mix dry ingredients (flour mixture) into butter mixture and blend till smooth. Stir chopped pecans and drained cooked apple slices into cake batter.
  7. Pour batter evenly into 2 prepared round cake pans.
  8. Place cake pans into preheated oven and set timer for 20 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes or till a toothpick poked into the middle comes out clean.
  9. Cool cakes on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from cake pans, cover cakes with plastic wrap and put cakes into the freezer while you make the frosting!

Cream Cheese Frosting

In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together 2 – 8oz (room temperature) cream cheese packages with 1 cube of room temp butter. Add 2 tablespoons of milk and 5 cups of powdered sugar 1 cup at a time till smooth.

When cakes are completely cool, plate your first round cake on a serving dish or a pedestal. Frost the top and sides, then add the second round cake on top. Then frost the top and sides, and smooth out sides. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons chopped pecans, or place whole pecans evenly around top and serve.

moist applesauce cake on serving dish

Ingredients

  • 1 cup tart applesauce
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • half a cup of butter
  • tsp vanilla
  • one and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • half a cup of chopped pecans + 3 tablespoons chopped pecans, or 16 whole pecans for garnish.
  • 1 apple peeled sliced thin and simmered till tender.

Ingredients For Frosting

Set cream cheese and butter for frosting out a few hours before making cake to let them soften.

  • 2 8oz packages cream cheese
  • 1 cube butter
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 5 cups powdered sugar

Tips

  1. With cream cheese frosting, This is a sweet cake. I like to use a tart applesauce to help balance it! I do this by using my homemade sugar free GRANNY SMITH applesauce… It has no added sugars and is nice and tart!
  2. Don’t over bake cakes, check in 20 minutes with a toothpick. If they aren’t done yet, check again every 2 minutes till a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  3. 3 cake pans don’t fit into 1 oven at the same time, so use double ovens, or bake the 1st 2 cakes, then put the 3rd cake pan in to bake.
  4. Don’t try frosting a warm cake.. The frosting will melt and the cake will crumble.

How To Store Leftover Cake

Cover leftover cake with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator… Use within 1 week, if it lasts that long! This cake also freezes well, if you want to save it for a later date, just wrap well in plastic wrap and put wrapped slices into a freezer safe Zip-lock bag!

Recipe Card

If you try this recipe and love it, I’d love if you give it 5 stars and let me know how it turned out in the comments or review! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouse_harvest with your delicious creation!

moist applesauce cake

Moist Applesauce Cake Recipe

This MOIST applesauce cake recipe melts in your mouth and pleases the pickiest eaters!
5 from 1 vote
Print Pin Rate
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Additional Time: 19 minutes
Total Time: 59 minutes
Servings: 16 slices
Calories: 350kcal
Author: Juliea Huffaker

Ingredients

  • 1 cup tart applesauce
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • half a cup of butter
  • tsp vanilla
  • one teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • half a cup of chopped pecans + 3 tablespoons chopped pecans or 16 whole pecans for garnish.
  • 1 apple peeled sliced thin and simmered till tender.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and move ranck to center of oven.
  • Prepare 2 round cake pans with butter and flour dusting or with parchment paper.
  • Peel 1 apple and slice thin. Simmer apple slices in a shallow pan of water till tender, then drain and set aside. (You can also use 1 cup of canned apple slices and skip this step!)
  • In a large bowl, or bowl of a stand mixer, cream together half a cup of room temperature butter with 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of applesauce, 1/3 cup of sour cream and a teaspoon of vanilla.
  • In a separate bowl add 2 cups of all purpose flour with 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 a tsp ground cloves, and mix to combine.
  • . Mix dry ingredients (flour mixture) into butter mixture and blend till smoothe. Stir chopped pecans and drained cooked apple slices into cake batter.
  • Pour batter evenly into 2 prepared round cake pans.
  • Place cake pans into preheated oven and set timer for 20 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes or till a toothpick poked into the middle comes out clean.
  • Cool cakes on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from cake pans, cover cakes with plastic wrap and put cakes into the freezer while you make the frosting!

Nutrition

Serving: 1/16th | Calories: 350kcal | Fat: 10g

Let me know what you think!

Share your cooking tips and feedback in the comments below. Did you add any twists to these recipes? I’d love to hear!

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2 comments

  • Pearline

    Hi Juliea I only recently found you website thanks for the great and easy to follow recipes. May I ask what apples are best for this MOIST apple cake recipe. Also I was thinking of simmering the apples in apple apple juice. I juice a lot. Thanks again for the wonderful recipes.

    • Hi Pearline, Thanks for stopping by Farmhouse Harvest! I love using granny smith apples for their tartness. Good idea… Simmering apples in apple juice would add flavor!

5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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