EASY Applesauce Cake (No Eggs, Low Fat, Low Sugar)

This applesauce cake is a wonderful coffee cake that comes together easily using just a bowl and a spatula or whisk. This healthy cake also doesn't contain any eggs and is low on sugar and oil and is vegan or plant based too. I top it with a whipped cream cheese frosting (which is easily made vegan!).

I had a lot of applesauce that I wanted to use up so I decided to make this cake. Applesauce adds moisture and flavour to a cake and can replace oil or butter and eggs because of its high moisture content and natural binding ability to make this a healthier cake. If you love carrot cakes or hummingbird cakes with spice and texture to them then you will love this applesauce cake. It is light, moist and absolutely delicious especially with the whipped cream cheese frosting.

Tips for Making Applesauce Cake

1 - You can use home made or bought applesauce. If making it at home you can use this homemade applesauce recipe.

2 - Make sure that the applesauce is very smooth in texture. That way it mimics the fats or oil that it is partially replacing.

3 - The raisins or sultanas and the walnuts are optional but I definitely recommend adding them for texture. Just make sure to soak the dried fruit first (even 10 minutes is good) in hot water from a just boiled kettle.

4 - Toast the walnuts before using to bring out their flavour (8-9 minutes at 180C/350F). If you don't like walnuts you can use pecans or your favourite nut. Just chop roughly before adding.

5 - You can bake this in a 20cm/8inch round or square baking tin.

6 - Do not overbake this as it will become dry if overbaked.

7 - Make sure that the cake is completely cold before spreading the frosting.

8 - This whipped cream cheese is one of my favourite ever frostings! It's so light and has a lovely tang to it from the cream cheese. It might actually be my favourite frosting along with sour cream frosting. I hope you'll give it a try!

9 - I made a vegan version of this cake using plant based cream cheese and cream and it worked really well and whipped up perfectly. In fact I think it whipped up even more than regular cream! Just make sure to chill your plant based cream first before whipping. It needs to be very cold.

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It was a very busy day at our house when I baked this applesauce cake. There were a lot of activity as we were getting proper NBN installed (fibre to the premises baby!) and it was messy all around. There was also an incident involving Milo a couple of days prior. When Mr NQN picked Teddy and Milo up from the groomers he called me, "Ok so firstly Milo is ok. I don't want you to lose it but he had a bit of an accident," he told me. The groomer had accidentally cut his dew claw. Which of course made me go all "My Shaylaaaaa!".

We didn't realise how bad it was because it was wrapped up tightly and we didn't want to undo it but when Milo chewed at it the night before and opened up the bandage it looked very raw and bloody. "I'm taking him to the vet first thing tomorrow," I said to Mr NQN. We made a makeshift bandage using cotton pads, antiseptic, paper towels and masking tape but he chewed that off that evening.

The vet appointment was at 11am so I quickly made the cake part of this applesauce cake. Just before 11am we got ready for the vet visit. Stepping through all of the mess I headed to the vet. She saw the dew claw and was a bit shocked but she removed it under a local anaesthetic. Even then Milo remained the happy, cheerful dog he always is. He remained so unbothered by anything that all of the vet staff noticed it too. When I got home from the vet the timing was perfect for the frosting as the cake was completely cool. So the upside of this was that we had cake (although little Milo couldn't have any!).

The groomer was actually super lovely about it and followed up several times and offered to pay for the vet bill too which was nice of her. We just agreed to having them groomed for free for the next visit. I wonder how Milo will walk into the groomers-he used to walk into there happily. Who knows!

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever tried applesauce cake? Do you worry about your pets like they're your kids?

Applesauce Cake

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 55 minutes

• 100g/3.5ozs raisins or sultanas (optional but recommended)
• 60g/2ozs walnuts (optional but recommended)
• 1 cup/250g/8.8ozs applesauce
• 1/2 cup/125ml/4flozs water
• 80ml/2.8flozs oil
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (any vinegar works)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
• 80g/2.8ozs brown sugar
• 2 cups/300g/10.6ozs cake flour*
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarb
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

• 125g/4ozs cream cheese
• 110g/3.9ozs caster or superfine sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Pinch salt
• 300ml/10.6flozs double cream

*Cake flour can be bought at the supermarket. You can also make it at home. To make 1 cup/150g/5.2ozs of cake flour replace 2 tablespoons of plain all purpose flour with cornflour/fine cornstarch and whisk well. I usually mix up a big batch of this and keep it in a container ready for baking cakes as it produces a softer texture.

Step 1 - First soak the raisins or sultanas in a cup of hot water from the recently boiled kettle. Allow to steep while you gather the rest of the ingredients. Preheat oven to 180C/350F and toast the walnuts in a single layer for 6-7 minutes or until toasted. Chop walnuts roughly. Drain the dried fruit and set aside.

Step 2 -Line a 20cm/8inch square tin on the base and sides. Preheat oven to 160C/320F fan forced. Whisk the applesauce, water, oil, vinegar, vanilla and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl whisk the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Sift this into the wet ingredients and stir to combine. When just about combined, add the in the dried fruit and walnuts and stir gently (do not overmix).

Step 3 -Scoop into the prepared tin and smooth over the top so that it is even. Bake for 40 minutes or until the centre springs back when pressed. Cool completely. If you are in a hurry, wrap it in a teatowel and place in the freezer (tea towel is to protect other items in your freezer from the heat). When cake is completely cold, gently place on a serving board or plate.

Step 4 -Using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together until smooth. Add in the double cream and whisk until it becomes a stiff, spreadable cream. Spread on top of the completely cooled cake and serve.