This Butter Rum Glazed Applesauce Cake recipe is a homemade cake recipe with a browned butter rum frosting and is one of the perfect easy desserts to serve on a chilly day. A delicious applesauce spice cake brings the flavors of fall to the dessert table.
This vintage recipe with the rum glaze takes Grandma's applesauce cake recipe to a whole new leveI of flavors. It is a moist applesauce cake recipe that is perfect for birthdays, potlucks, or just because you want dessert cake.
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❤️ Why I Love This Recipe
✔️ It is a homemade cake using applesauce to replace the vegetable oil and eggs in the recipe leaving room for a tasty browned butter glaze.
✔️ This delicious applesauce cake is ready in just 30 minutes and is the perfect treat to feed the family for dessert, and it is served warm!
✔️ Applesauce adds good flavor and helps to make a tender moist cake which helps keep it from drying out.
🥘 Ingredients for Applesauce Cake
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Butter, should be at room temperature.
Unsweetened applesauce, or use your own homemade applesauce, or a cinnamon applesauce.
Dark rum
🔪 Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until butter just begins to brown. Immediately remove the butter from the heat.
- Add the granulated sugar, applesauce and vanilla extract to a large bowl and mix, using a hand whisk or an electric hand mixer on medium speed until combined.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until combined.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until toothpick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. Glaze the cake while warm.
For the glaze
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, cooking 2 minutes, or until butter just begins to brown.
- Immediately remove the butter from the heat. Stir in the powdered sugar, rum, and milk until smooth and spreadable. Pour the glaze over the warm cake.
🙋 Recipe FAQ's
Applesauce is an excellent substitute for oil in baking because of its ability to add moisture without fat.
A spice cake is made with a mixture of spices, usually warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, or ginger.
Yes, brown sugar and white sugar can be used interchangeably in this cake recipe. Using brown sugar will give it a deeper caramel flavor to this tender spice cake.
💭 Tips
- Enhance the apple cake flavor of the cake by placing thinly sliced fresh apples on top of the cake batter before baking.
- Remove the applesauce from the refrigerator, measure and bring it to room temperature before adding to the cake mixture to prevent curdling of the ingredients.
📖 Variations
- Substitute the Butter Rum Glaze for Caramel Frosting or a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
- Lightly sprinkle the top of the frosted cake with ground cinnamon or freshly grated nutmeg.
- Make a raisin studded tender spice cake by stirring in ½ cup of raisins before baking.
- Bake the cake in a bundt pan and spread while warm with the frosting.
- Eliminate the frosting and drizzle with a warm caramel sauce
🍽 Equipment
Cake pan
Electric mixer
Rubber scraper
Wooden spoon
Mixing bowls
🏫 What I've Learned
Unsweetened applesauce works best for cake bakes as it already has natural sweetness and adds a nice apple flavor to the recipe. It also can be a substitute for fat or eggs in a cake without changing the structure of the cake.
A glazed applesauce cake is done while the cake is warm. This allows some of the glaze to seep into the cake adding more flavor and a delicious moist cake.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this easy applesauce cake with a hot cup of coffee, hot tea, glass of milk, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Storage
Store the cake in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days, or in the freezer in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Allow the cake to thaw completely on the counter before serving.
Related Recipes
Salted Caramel Apple Cake with Toasted Walnuts
Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Butter Rum Frosting
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When you make this recipe, please comment below and let me know what you think. I'd love it if you tag me on Instagram @grumpyshoneybunch or #grumpyshoneybunch so I can see your photos!
If you love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating
📖 Recipe
Butter Rum Glazed Applesauce Cake
Equipment
- Cake pan , 8x8 size
Ingredients
For the Cake
- ⅓ cup butter
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1½ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the glaze
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- ½ tablespoon dark rum
- ½ tablespoon milk
Instructions
For the cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until butter just begins to brown. Immediately remove the butter from the heat.
- Add the granulated sugar, applesauce and vanilla extract and stir until combined.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the applesauce mixture to the flour, stirring until combined.
- Bake for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack. Glaze the cake while warm.
For the glaze
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, cooking 2 minutes, or until butter just begins to brown.
- Immediately remove the butter from the heat. Stir in the powdered sugar, rum, and milk until smooth and spreadable. Pour the glaze over the warm cake.
Judith
Hi Shelby..I made your spice cake today and it’s delicious..sooo moist..I did add walnuts to the batter..soooo good..I’ll be making this cake again..thank you for sharing this recipe! I love your blog!😊
Shelby Law Ruttan
Hi Judith, So happy to hear you made this recipe! It is a long time favorite of mine (I'm a huge rum fan too!). Thank you for coming back to rate the recipe, I truly appreciate it! Shelby
mrskimmyl
This recipe needs to come with a warning label at the top:
*WARNING*
Reading this recipe may induce drooling. Please take standard precautions.
This sounds SO yummy!
Matt
The cake looks delicious. I would like it smothered in the butter-rum frosting...
Could Rudy be any cuter?