This vegan applesauce bundt cake is packed with spices, brown sugar, and walnuts, and topped with a sweet and buttery maple glaze!
Apples are in season! And I love my apple desserts... you know, like apple cake, apple pie, and apple crisp. But applesauce desserts are extra nice because applesauce is much more shelf stable than fresh apples, which means I can always keep a jar on hand. In fact, nearly all of the ingredients for this cake are pantry staples, so I can bake one up on a whim, at any time!
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This cake is a delicious way to celebrate the season. It's pretty easy to make and the perfect treat for wrapping up special fall dinners.
Ingredients You'll Need
- Flour. You'll need all-purpose wheat flour, also known as plain old white flour. I haven't tested the recipe with any other flour varieties.
- Baking soda.
- Spices. We're using ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg, all of which are available in the spice aisle of most supermarkets.
- Salt.
- Applesauce. Use unsweetened applesauce, please. We want full control over the sweetness level of this cake!
- Sugar. Use organic sugar. Non-organic sugar isn't always vegan, as it's often processed using animal bone char.
- Brown sugar. This also needs to be organic. You can use dark or light brown sugar. I used light for the cake in the photos.
- Vegetable oil. You can use any type of vegetable oil that you normally like to bake with. Corn oil, canola oil, and melted coconut oil are all fine!
- Vanilla extract.
- Chopped walnuts. Feel free to swap these out with another type of nut, such as pecans, or skip them for a nut-free cake.
- Maple syrup.
- Vegan butter. This can be found right next to the regular butter in the refrigerated section of most grocery stores.
- Powdered sugar. Once again, this needs to be organic!
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Mix your dry ingredients first. Whisk the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
Beat the applesauce, sugars, oil, and vanilla together in a separate bowl. Stop once everything is combined.
Beat the flour mixture into the wet ingredient mixture, adding about a third at a time and beating each addition in at low speed.
Now you can ditch the electric mixer. Gran a spoon or spatula and gently fold the walnuts into the cake batter.
Pour the batter into a greased and floured bundt cake pan, then pop it into the oven. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean of batter. Loosen the cake with a knife, then place the pan on a cooling rack and let it cool completely.
To make the glaze, stir maple syrup, melted vegan butter, and powdered sugar together in a bowl. When the cake is cool, invert it onto a plate, then drizzle it with the glaze. It's ready to slice and serve!
Shelf-Life & Storage
Vegan applesauce cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about two days, in the fridge for about five days, or in the freezer for about three months. I like to store this one in a large, sealable cake keeper. Plastic wrap will do if you're not freezing it, but it might smudge the glaze.
Variations
- If you prefer to keep things simple, feel free to skip the glaze and top your cake with just a sprinkle of powdered sugar.
- Add raisins to the batter, or your favorite dried fruit! You can substitute these for the walnuts, or use both.
Frequently Asked Questions
I haven't tested out a gluten-free version, but I'd recommend using an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend if you'd like to give it a try. Based on my experience with other cakes, I think it should work!
You can! Use a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. You'll need to reduce the bake time a bit. Start checking on it around the thirty minute mark.
More Vegan Cakes for Fall
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Applesauce Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup organic granulated sugar
- ¾ cup organic brown sugar
- â…” cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts
For the Maple Glaze
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons vegan butter, melted
- 1 cup organic powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease and flour the inside of a 10-inch bundt pan.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- Place the applesauce, sugar, brown sugar, oil and vanilla into a separate large mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer at high speed to beat the ingredients together for about thirty seconds, until combined. You may find that the oil separates out when you stop the mixer, and this is fine.
- Using the mixer at low speed, begin beating the dry ingredient mixture into the wet ingredients, adding about a third at a time and fully beating in each addition before adding more.
- Fold the walnuts into the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
- Bake the cake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven, and immediately use a knife to gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan. Leave the cake in the pan and place it on a cooling rack. Let the cake cool completely.
- Once the cake is cool, stir the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl. The glaze should be runny. If it seems too thin, add some more powdered sugar. If it seems too thick, add some maple syrup or water.
- Run a knife along the sides of the cake again, then invert the cake onto a plate (Note 1).
- Drizzle the glaze over the cake.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
- If the cake is stubborn and doesn't want to come out of the pan, just keep working it with the knife, going around and around the inside and outside edges. When you really begin to feel the cake loosen, try inverting it again. You can give the pan a tap with your hands to try and force the cake out.
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Such a delicious cake! I added dried apples, raisins, and pecans the second time around. Both versions were wonderful. This recipe is a keeper. I might try cranberries the next time.
it does 24 muffins. I used whole wheat and added a finely cubed apple. Yum! A wonderful smell in house!
Can you use a nother type of nut? And do you think GF flour would work? Looks yummy
Thank you! I think pecans would be delicious, but you really could use just about any nut. I haven't tried making a gluten-free version, but based on my experiences with other cakes, I think an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend would work. Enjoy!!
Thank you for the recipe, it was very well received by my family.
It was very easy to make and I didn’t have to go out and get any special ingredient. I am adding it to my rotation. Thank you
This was delicious, a big hit! Quick and easy to make with pantry staples. I sprinkled the walnuts to the top of the bundt cake before baking and added more cinnamon to the batter. Will be added to my regular rotation.