With its perfectly moist texture and soft crumb, this applesauce bundt cake is a serious crowd-pleaser. Made with 1 1/4 cups yogurt and 1 3/4 cups applesauce, it will be one of the moistest bundt cakes you ever make. Super simple, it bakes beautifully and evenly every time.

A platter of applesauce bundt cake.

Are you expecting company anytime soon? This applesauce bundt cake might be a good little thing to have on hand. It takes no time to throw together, and it’s the kind of thing, like this one-bowl orange ricotta pound cake and this lemon-ricotta pound cake, that can be enjoyed at any point in the day, early in the morning with coffee, later in the afternoon with tea.

I learned the recipe from my old neighbor, Geri, from Virginia, who always seemed to have this cake on hand anytime she was entertaining. My children and I (and the neighborhood!) couldn’t get enough of it when we found ourselves at her house for one of her legendary gatherings.

Geri started making this cake years ago when her father, who loved sweets, was advised to watch his diet. She found the recipe in some sort of low-fat, heart-healthy cookbook/website and has been making it ever since — for her father, for her own family, for her friends, for nearly every fall gathering and holiday.

Made with 1 1/4 cups yogurt and 1 3/4 cups applesauce, this cake is one of the moistest cakes I have ever made, and I can assure you it does not taste like diet food in any shape or form. And unlike some cakes that get moister the day after they are baked, this one is moist immediately, no doubt a result of the quantity of applesauce and yogurt. Moreover, it bakes beautifully and evenly every time — I don’t know why I don’t use my Bundt pan more often — and it looks pretty to boot.

A Few Other Apple Recipes For Fall

A slice of applesauce-yogurt cake.

How to Make Applesauce Cake, Step by Step

First, gather your ingredients. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir together the wet ingredients.

ingredients to make applesauce-yogurt cake.

Then combine the two.

Batter for applesauce-yogurt cake.

Grease a Bundt pan well with butter or nonstick spray.

Buttered bundt pan.

Pour batter into pan. Transfer to oven and bake at 325ºF for about an hour.

Bundt pan filled with batter, ready for the oven.
Just baked applesauce - yogurt cake still in bundt pan.
Baked applesauce-yogurt cake on a cooling rack.

If you wish, you can dust with powdered sugar:

Powdered-sugar dusted applesauce bundt cake.
Sliced applesauce - yogurt cake on a cake platter.
A slice of applesauce bundt cake on a platter.

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Just-baked applesauce bundt cake on a plate.

Moist Applesauce Bundt Cake

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5 from 49 reviews

  • Author: Alexandra Stafford
  • Total Time: 1 hours 15 minutes
  • Yield: 12 servings 1x
  • Diet: Low Fat
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Description

With its perfectly moist texture and soft crumb, this applesauce cake is a serious crowd-pleaser. Made with 1 1/4 cups yogurt and 1 3/4 cups applesauce, it will be one of the moistest bundt cakes you ever make. It’s super simple, and it bakes beautifully and evenly every time.

Notes:

Sugar: Over the years many of you have asked if you can cut the sugar back in this recipe, and many of you have reported back with successful results. Some of you have used 1 cup, others have used 1.5 cups. Encouraged by you, I recently made the cake with 1.5 cups (330 g) of sugar, and it was a great success. That said, I promise you this cake is not too sweet with 2 cups of sugar. Teddie’s apple cake, which is about the same size, also calls for 2 cups of sugar.

Cinnamon: I like it this cake both with cinnamon and without. It all depends on your preferences. If you’re in the mood for those warming fall spices, use cinnamon. If you’re not in the mood for the spiced flavor, use vanilla. The texture of the cake will be divine no matter what spices you use.

Yogurt: Geri, the woman who shared this recipe with me, uses Dannon plain nonfat yogurt, and her cake always came out incredibly deliciously. I get nervous about these things sometimes and can’t keep myself from buying the full-fat tubs. I used Stonyfield whole milk plain.

To freeze: Let the cake cool completely — this may take several hours from when you turn it out onto a cooling rack. Then wrap the cake in plastic wrap and tuck it into a jumbo Ziplock bag. Freeze for up to 3 months; thaw overnight on the counter before serving.

Bundt Pan: I’ve had the 12-cup, Nordic Ware Original Bundt Pan for years, and I absolutely love it — cakes bake super evenly every time.

Ingredients

  • 2.75 cups (350 g) flour
  • 2 cups (418 g) sugar
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons (13 g) baking soda
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons (5 g) baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ( 7 g) kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional, see notes)
  • 1 3/4 cups (465 g) applesauce
  • 1 1/4 cups yogurt (323 g) (see notes regarding fat percentage)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup (83 g) grapeseed oil, avocado oil, vegetable oil or other neutral oil
  • 1 1/2  teaspoons (5 g) vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan.
  2. In large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon (if using) and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix applesauce, yogurt, egg, oil and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
  4. Pour into prepared pan.
  5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Mine have consistently been done at 55 to 60 minutes.
  6. Cool 15 to 30 minutes or longer — I let mine sit for 45 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack. Before turning it out, run a paring knife around the center circle to loosen it a bit. See notes above if you wish to freeze the cake for a future date. 
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 50 minutes
  • Category: Dessert/Cake
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American