This healthy applesauce cake is made with cassava flour and lightly sweetened with honey. It has a dense, moist texture and is completely gluten free, dairy free and nut free!
When it comes to cake, the most important thing to me is texture. The cake must be moist, not dry or too airy.
This healthy applesauce cake is just that. It's moist and dense, not too sweet and topped with a simple dairy free frosting. It has a lovely cinnamon apple flavor and is lightly sweetened with honey.
This paleo applesauce cake is healthy enough for breakfast, but tasty enough for dessert. You can't go wrong!
Why You'll Love this Healthy Applesauce Cake
There are so many great qualities about this applesauce cake recipe:
- paleo friendly - made with real, whole food ingredients that are minimally processed
- gluten free and grain free - this applesauce cake is made without wheat flour, and instead uses a combination of cassava and coconut flour
- nut free - great for anyone with nut allergies
- dairy free - this applesauce cake is made without butter or milk
- lower in sugar than your average cake recipe
Ingredients
Here's what you need to make this gluten free applesauce cake:
- cassava flour
- coconut flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- cinnamon
- ginger (optional)
- unsweetened applesauce
- eggs
- palm shortening (or butter)
- honey (or maple syrup)
- vanilla
To make this applesauce snack cake paleo and nut free, I used a combination of cassava flour and coconut flour. Together, they create a dense cake with a moist crumb texture. No other flours have been tested for this recipe.
How to Make a Healthy Applesauce Cake
This applesauce cake is made in either an 8x8 inch square pan or 11x7 in pan. I used my 11x7 inch ceramic pan.
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the baking pan with shortening or butter and set aside.
In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix until well combined.
Let the batter sit for a couple minutes to thicken (it will be quite thick - more so than a typical cake batter). Pour the batter into the greased baking dish and spread into an even, level layer so that the cake batter touches the edges of the pan.
Place the cake in your preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until cooked through (toothpick comes out clean).
After baking, let the cake cool in the pan to room temperature.
Applesauce Cake Frosting
Frosting is optional, but adds to the flavor and compliments the applesauce cake's texture. You can frost the cake in the baking dish or remove it and place the cake on a serving platter.
This applesauce cake recipe tastes great with many different frostings. I used a homemade honey-vanilla frosting made with palm shortening, honey, tapioca starch and vanilla extract.
Your favorite vanilla or cream cheese frosting would also be great alternatives. Or, for a simple paleo frosting, top with coconut cream or coconut butter. Even a dollop of yogurt and honey would pair perfectly.
Storage
This cake is best kept in the fridge. Either store the cake in the baking dish and cover with plastic wrap or bees wax wrap, or place it in a sealed, air-tight container and keep in the fridge for up to one week.
More Recipes using Applesauce
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Healthy Applesauce Cake (Gluten Free, Low Sugar)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 11"x7" OR 8"x8" cake 1x
Description
This healthy applesauce cake is gluten free, low in added sugar and paleo friendly. It's a great cake for a healthy dessert or sweet breakfast.
Ingredients
Cake
- ⅔ cup cassava flour (100g)
- 2 Tbsp coconut flour (14g)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger (optional)
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup palm shortening, melted (58g)
- 2 Tbsp raw honey (or maple syrup)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Frosting (optional)
- ½ cup palm shortening, softened
- 1-2 Tbsp honey
- 2 Tbsp tapioca starch
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 11x7 inch or 8 inch square baking pan with shortening or butter and set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl whisk together the cassava flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the applesauce, eggs, shortening, honey and vanilla.
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix until well combined.
- Let the batter sit for a couple minutes to thicken (it will be quite thick - more so than a typical cake batter). Pour the batter into the greased baking dish and spread into an even, level layer so that the cake batter touches the edges of the pan.
- Place the cake in your preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until cooked through (toothpick comes out clean).
- After baking, let the cake cool in the pan to room temperature.
- Once the cake is cool, make the frosting by combining all frosting ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth, then spread the frosting over the cake.
Notes
For best results, please measure cassava flour and coconut flour by weight.
Katie
My family and I love this healthy applesauce cake recipe and we hope you do too! Enjoy!
Heather B
Katie, this recipe is bomb! I made it today with coconut oil instead of palm shortening and added shredded carrots. We served it with a drizzle of honey instead of frosting and it was a major win. Two thumbs up. Thank you.
Katie
I'm so glad you liked it! Those substitutions sound amazing 🙂
Kathryn
My daughter can’t have coconut, do you have any suggestions for substituting for coconut flour?
Katie
The coconut flour helps with the texture of the cake, but you could probably get away with adding more cassava. It will change the cake texture but should still bake alright.