• Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Blog
  • Prep-Ahead Meals Cookbooks
  • Recipes
  • Lifestyle
  • Gardening
  • Kid’s Activities
  • Gluten-Free Recipes
  • Budgeting Tips
↑

Premeditated Leftovers™

Prep-Ahead Meals, Cooking Tips, and Frugal Living

  • Cookbooks
    • Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches
    • Prep-Ahead Meals From Scratch
  • Recipe Index
  • Members Area
    • Member Login
    • Join Us
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Recipes
  • Gluten-Free Recipes
  • Lifestyle
  • Garden
  • DIY
  • Kids
  • Budget

You are here: Home / Recipes and Cooking Tips / Easy Applesauce Bundt Cake

Easy Applesauce Bundt Cake

February 2, 2010 by Alea Milham 24 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.
19980 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
This semi-homemade applesauce cake recipe with cinnamon glaze.
Easy applesauce cake made with a box of cake mix

This semi-homemade applesauce cake is made by doctoring a plain white or yellow cake mix.

This easy Applesauce Bundt Cake Recipe uses a box of cake mix, apple sauce, eggs, and apple pie spice. It's topped with a tasty white chip cinnamon glaze. It creates an elegant applesauce cake that is simply delicious!

What do you do when you want to make a cake, but you don’t have a lot of time? make a bundt cake. They are elegant and you can get away from putting a simple glaze on top and calling it good.

What do you do when you want to make a cake, but you are out of flour…but just happen to have a box of cake mix in the pantry? Make a doctored cake, so it tastes homemade. This applesauce bundt cake recipe is the result of no flour and little time!

I like to pretend this applesauce cake is healthy. It is lower in fat because I replace the oil with applesauce, but it still has all the sugar of a regular cake. However, it is delicious enough that it can be eaten either with a thin glaze or without any icing which does reduce the sugar consumption.

What kind of cake mix is used in applesauce cake?

You can use a yellow cake mix, a white cake mix, or a vanilla cake mix. A spice cake mix can also be used, but if you do reduce the apple pie spice to 1 teaspoon.

I have tried this recipe with multiple different cake mixes from 15.25 ounces to 21 ounces. If you use a package of cake mix that has 18 ounces or more, increase the applesauce to 2 cups.

What kind of applesauce is used in applesauce cake?

I prefer to use unsweetened applesauce and that is what is called for in my recipe, but if you don’t have any on hand you can alter the recipe to use the type of applesauce in your pantry.

If you use unsweetened cinnamon applesauce, reduce the apple pie spice to 1 1/2 teaspoon.

You can use sweetened applesauce if that is all you have on hand, but you should add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to offset the added sugar.

If you use sweetened cinnamon applesauce, reduce the apple pie spice to 1 1/2 teaspoon and add 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Easy Applesauce Bundt Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 package yellow or white cake mix (You can use Pamela’s Classic Vanilla Cake mix to make this gluten-free.)
  • 1 tablespoon apple pie spice mix
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cups unsweetened applesauce

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cake pan.
  2. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients thoroughly.
  3. Pour the batter into a greased Bundt cake pan or 13 x 9 pan.
  4. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes for a bundt cake, 30 – 35 minutes for a 13 x 9 pan, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  5. Let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the cake and allow it to continue cooling.

Easy applesauce bundt cake on a cake plate.

Once the cake is cool, you can leave the cake plain, sprinkle it with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar, or you can drizzle the white chip cinnamon glaze recipe below.

White Chip Cinnamon Glaze Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 3 Tablespoons evaporated milk
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

  1. In a small saucepan, heat evaporated milk until it reaches a boil.
  2. Remove from heat.
  3. Add chips; stir until smooth.
  4. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
  5. Drizzle over cake.

Pour the cinnamon glaze over the applesauce cake.

Printable Recipe for Easy Applesauce Cake

Easy Applesauce Bundt Cake Recipe Using a Yellow Cake Mix, applesauce in place of oil, and apple pie spice mix.
Print
5 from 3 votes

Easy Applesauce Bundt Cake

Easy Applesauce Cake Recipe Type : Dessert Cuisine: American Author: Alea Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 50 mins Total time: 55 mins Serves: 12 Easy Applesauce Bundt Cake
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes minutes
Total Time 50 minutes minutes
Servings 12
Author Alea

Ingredients

  • 1 package 18 - 21-ounce yellow cake mix
  • 1 tablespoon apple pie spice mix
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
  • White Chip Cinnamon Glaze Ingredients:
  • 3 Tablespoons evaporated milk
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cake pan.
  • In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients thoroughly.
  • Pour the batter into a greased Bundt cake pan or 13 x 9 pan.
  • Bake for 40 - 45 minutes for a bundt cake, 30 - 35 minutes for a 13 x 9 pan, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  • Let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the cake and allow it to continue cooling.
  • White Chip Cinnamon Glaze Directions:
  • In a small saucepan, heat evaporated milk until it reaches a boil.
  • Remove from heat.
  • Add chips; stir until smooth.
  • Stir in 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
  • Drizzle over cake.

sliced applesauce bundt cake on a cake platter

More Doctored Cake Mix Recipes

Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

Mocha Fudge Bundt Cake

Earthquake Cake

19980 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet

About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

Comments

  1. Susan says

    August 4, 2023 at 8:15 pm

    I love this delicious, moist and very easy cake!! Definitely making this again!!

    Reply
  2. FuntasticOne says

    June 6, 2023 at 4:13 pm

    5 stars
    For the glaze, does it have to be evaporated milk vs regular milk. Is there really a difference?

    Reply
  3. Ishbel says

    December 10, 2022 at 7:39 pm

    5 stars
    I usually add a package of instant vanilla pudding to my bundle cakes. Can I do that to this cake???

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      December 12, 2022 at 1:48 am

      I have never tried adding pudding to this recipe.

      Reply
  4. Pat says

    May 12, 2022 at 8:17 am

    Can nuts and or raisins be added?

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      May 15, 2022 at 10:29 pm

      Yes, they can.

      Reply
  5. Bob says

    June 16, 2020 at 6:07 pm

    5 stars
    So easy, so good. Caramel maple glaze for mine, definitely a keeper! Thanks, I’ll be making it again for sure!

    Reply
  6. Rae Smylie says

    May 3, 2020 at 4:40 pm

    Made this cake today and shared with two sets of neighbors. We all loved it!

    Very good and pretty doggone easy.

    Reply
  7. Jo McLean says

    April 9, 2020 at 6:56 am

    I just read this great recipe; are we just using the cake mix and eggs, no oil or water to make the cake? Of course, the applesauce for moisture. Just wanted to check.

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      April 9, 2020 at 11:57 am

      Yes, Ignore the ingredient list and directions on the back of the cake mix box and use these instead.

      Reply
  8. Terrie says

    December 19, 2018 at 3:47 pm

    My cake mix is 15.25 should I reduce the apple sauce by a 1/2 cup

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      December 21, 2018 at 12:56 pm

      You can reduce the applesauce if you wish.

      Reply
  9. Chaos Cottage says

    February 6, 2010 at 11:29 pm

    I just copied this to my to try recipes. Thanks.

    Reply
  10. Jerri says

    February 6, 2010 at 11:11 pm

    This sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing!

    Hope you'll stop by and link up at my Sweet Thursday Valentine round-up.

    Reply
  11. Rae says

    February 2, 2010 at 5:19 pm

    21oz – that's great; thanks Alea; I can work that out 🙂

    Reply
  12. Lisa says

    February 2, 2010 at 5:14 pm

    Sounds easy, delicious, and a perfect comfort cake. Thanks for sharing. We'll definitely be trying this one.

    Lisa

    Reply
  13. Lisa@BlessedwithGrace says

    February 2, 2010 at 4:39 pm

    That cake looks great. I imagine it is very moist. Thanks for linking your post to TMTT.

    Reply
  14. Mary says

    February 2, 2010 at 4:15 pm

    This looks terrific and sounds so simple! I'll have to give it a try.
    I have an overstock of apple sauce in my pantry and this would be a great way to use it. Have a wonderful day, Alea. Blessings…Mary

    Reply
  15. Alea says

    February 2, 2010 at 4:09 pm

    Rae- A standard American cake mix is 18.5 oz., which is what this recipe calls for. Pamela's, which I used because it is gluten free, is 21 oz. I did not have to alter the ingredients for the heavier cake mix.

    Reply
  16. C-re says

    February 2, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    That looks yummy. I'll have to try it. I've got a ton of freezer applesauce.

    Reply
  17. Rae says

    February 2, 2010 at 8:40 am

    That looks lovely, but I don't know what the cake mix is – how much is in the pack then I could work it out as a recipe.
    Thanks for the idea, the split pea soup looks delicious too 🙂

    Mrs Green @myzerowaste.com

    Reply
  18. Porch Days says

    February 2, 2010 at 4:04 am

    This cake looks delicious. For supper we had your roasted sweet & white potatoes. I added some lemon pepper. It was great! Thanks so much. And thanks for visiting Porch Days regularly!
    Nancy

    Reply
  19. SnoWhite says

    February 2, 2010 at 3:56 am

    delicious! I just made this with sweet potatoes (in place of applesauce) for a pumpkin-like cake!

    Reply
  20. Iris says

    February 2, 2010 at 3:09 am

    I love how simple this looks to make!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Search

Prep-Ahead Breakfasts and Lunches by Alea Milham

Recent Articles:

watermelon cupcakes with whipped cream frosting

How to Make Watermelon Cupcakes

Blueberry Popsicles made with real blueberries

Easy Homemade Blueberry Popsicles Recipe

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Prep-Ahead Meals from Scratch Where to Buy

BROWSE:

  • Blog
  • Cookbooks
  • Recipe Index
  • Members Area

ABOUT:

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure

Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

Copyright ©2025, Premeditated Leftovers™. All Rights Reserved.
Design by Pixel Me Designs