Easy Applesauce Snack Cake for Kids | America's Test Kitchen Kids

recipe

This easy cake is the perfect after-school snack. It comes with a special sparkly top!

Prepare Ingredients

Vegetable oil spray

1½ cups

all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon

baking soda

½ teaspoon

salt

⅔ cup

sugar

½ teaspoon

ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon

ground nutmeg

1 cup

unsweetened applesauce

8 tablespoons

unsalted butter, melted and cooled

¼ cup

apple cider or apple juice

1

large egg

1 teaspoon

vanilla extract

Gather Cooking Equipment

Aluminum foil

Ruler

8-inch square metal baking pan

3

bowls (1 medium, 1 large, 1 small)

Whisk

1-tablespoon measuring spoon

Rubber spatula

Toothpick

Oven mitts

Cooling rack

Cutting board

Chef’s knife

1

Vegetable oil spray

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Make aluminum foil sling for 8-inch square metal baking pan by following steps below. Spray foil lightly with vegetable oil spray.

Lining the baking pan with two pieces of aluminum foil makes it super easy to get the finished snack cake out of the pan. The pieces of foil should be the same width as the pan and long enough to hang over the sides. For an 8-inch square pan (and for this Applesauce Snack Cake), both sheets of foil should measure 8 inches across and roughly 13 inches long. If you are making a sheet cake in a larger 13-by-9-inch pan, one sheet should measure 12 inches wide and the other 9 inches wide. Both sheets should be about 18 inches long.

Fold 2 long sheets of aluminum foil so they each measure 8 inches across and roughly 13 inches long.

Lay sheets of foil in pan so that sheets are perpendicular to each other. Let extra foil hang over edges of pan. Push foil into corners and up sides of pan, smoothing foil so it rests against pan.

2

1½ cups

all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon

baking soda

½ teaspoon

salt

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

3

⅔ cup

sugar

½ teaspoon

ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon

ground nutmeg

In large bowl, whisk sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until well combined. Transfer 2 tablespoons sugar-spice mixture to small bowl and reserve for sprinkling.

4

1 cup

unsweetened applesauce

8 tablespoons

unsalted butter, melted and cooled

¼ cup

apple cider or apple juice

1

large egg

1 teaspoon

vanilla extract

Add applesauce, melted butter, cider, egg, and vanilla to large bowl with sugar-spice mixture and whisk until well combined.

5

Add flour mixture to applesauce mixture and whisk to combine. Use rubber spatula to scrape batter into greased baking pan and smooth top. Sprinkle reserved sugar-spice mixture evenly over batter.

Sprinkle reserved sugar-spice mixture evenly over batter right before baking pan goes into oven.

6

Place baking pan in oven. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.

7

Use oven mitts to remove baking pan from oven (ask an adult for help). Place baking pan on cooling rack and let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes.

8

Use foil to carefully lift cake out of baking pan and place on cooling rack. Let cake cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Transfer cake to cutting board and discard foil. Cut into pieces and serve.

Food for Thought

A Sparkly Top

Most of the sugar and spices (cinnamon and nutmeg) go into the cake batter, except for 2 tablespoons that get sprinkled over the batter in the baking pan. In the oven, the sugar will melt into a crispy, sparkly topping for the cake.