Grape Applesauce Cake

This Bundt cake gets its incredible moisture from a full pound of applesauce and a generous pour of grape juice, which means no butter or oil in the batter. The fruit does all the work, keeping the crumb soft and dense while the spice blend of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger fills the kitchen with a warmth that smells like autumn.

Grape juice is the ingredient that sets this apart from a standard applesauce cake. It adds a subtle fruity sweetness and a faint purple blush to the batter that you won’t get from water or milk. Combined with the applesauce, it creates a moist crumb that stays fresh for days.

Chopped dates and pecans get folded in at the end by hand, not with the mixer. The mixer would break the dates into mush and crush the pecans. Stirring them in gently keeps the date pieces intact so they become chewy, caramel-like pockets throughout the cake, and the pecans stay in crunchy pieces.

A dusting of powdered sugar is all the decoration this cake needs. No frosting, no glaze. The top of a well-greased Bundt pan gives you that gorgeous ridged pattern, and the sugar settles into the grooves.

Pro Tips

• Grease and flour the Bundt pan thoroughly, especially in the crevices. Applesauce cakes stick more than butter-based ones because of the high moisture content.
• Mix on low speed and scrape the bowl constantly. Over-mixing makes the cake tough instead of tender.
• Test at 55 minutes with a toothpick. Every oven runs a little different, and overbaking dries out the fruit-based crumb quickly.

Variations

• Use apple juice or apple cider instead of grape juice for a more apple-forward flavor.
• Add a cup of raisins alongside or in place of the dates for a fruitier cake.
• Drizzle with a simple grape juice glaze (powdered sugar mixed with grape juice) instead of dusting.