Servings: 10-12 serving(s)
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hours 5 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes
PrintDense and moist thanks to the applesauce and molasses, this not-too-sweet cake is great for snacking. It makes a lovely dessert to share with friends. No frosting necessary.
Everyone should have a good snack cake recipe, an everyday cake that you can feed your kids after school, or eat as a mid-morning snack with your coffee. A cake that acts like a muffin.
This is that sort of cake.
The recipe came from a friend of mine who sometimes bakes it for her boys as an after school snack. So they pile in the back door to the smell of spice cake. How’s that for memory making?
Dense and moist thanks to the applesauce and a hint of molasses, this not-too-sweet cake is extra satisfying (and flavourful) when made with whole wheat or spelt flour.
It can be a great dinner party stand in too, served with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of cider sauce.
Whole Wheat Applesauce Cake Recipe
(adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food)
- 3 cups flour (1/2 whole wheat or spelt)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
- 1 ¼ tsp cardamom
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 2 cups packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup Crosby’s Fancy Molasses
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups applesauce
- In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
- In another bowl beat butter, brown sugar and molasses until fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time.
- Gradually add flour mixture, beating just until combined.
- Blend in applesauce.
- Spoon into a 9 inch tube pan that has been greased and floured. Smooth the top.
- Bake at 350 F for 50 min to an hour, until the cake is pulling away from the side of the pan and a tester comes out clean.
- Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan.
- Cool on a rack for 10 minutes then remove from the pan.
Cool completely before serving.
One more thing…
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i WISH THERE WOULD BE CALORIES ETC ADDED TO YOUR RECIPES.
Hi Nora,
Eventually I hope to have calorie count a standard part of our recipe posts because we get lots of requests for that kind of information.
Would this also fit a 9×13 pan? I might add a cup of chopped walnuts to the recipe, too. Yum! Thank you!
Hi Ruth, I think it’s worth trying it in a 9″x13″ pan and walnuts would be a delicious addition. I’d start checking for doneness at about 30-35 min, what do you think?
Maybe 40 minutes. Look forward to trying this soon. Hmmm, maybe chopped candied ginger in the cake instead of walnuts.
Candied ginger…great suggestion. I’ll have to write that one down.
The molasses, can it be blackstrap in place of fancy.
Thank You
Hi Mary, Yes, you could substitute blackstrap for fancy molasses since the recipe only calls for 1/4 cup molasses.
OVERFLOWED 9″ Pampered Chef bundt pan. Mess in the oven, smoke in the air, but the cake was saved by fast removal of smoke alarm, turning on fans, opening windows and mediation of spill. Perhaps the volume of batter only works in a true angel food tube pan? Pan volumes vary from 9 cups to 12 cups, depending on the height of the sides and circumference of the center tube. Measure the pan you used and tell me what your actual pan volume is. The batter that did stay in the pan only fell a little at the center but got baked through. It tastes great.