The Best Apple Sauce in the World!

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Essential guide to what does applesauce do in baking?

For some great recipes using apple sauce instead of oil have a look!

Have you ever struggled with the choice between a slice of carrot cake, or a carrot?

Is it a battle to get your children to eat blueberries instead of a blueberry muffin?

Having a healthier diet doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the foods you love.

Is this something that you would like to be able to do?

Hopefully we’ll explain to you:  What does applesauce do in baking?

Have you thought about using unsweetened applesauce as a replacement for butter or oils in your baking?

Because most of your cakes, muffins, breads and cookies are very high in unsaturated fats and sugars using unsweetened applesauce is an amazing substitute for oil or butter in your backed goods. 

Let’s look at some numbers:

Based on 100 grams of each here is the calories count for:

what does applesauce do in baking

Based on 100 grams of each here is the fat content for:

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what does applesauce do in baking

The main reason for putting oil or butter into baked goods is to retain moisture in your bake.  But that only partially answers the question of what does applesauce do in baking.

What is does, here comes the science bit, is capture the gases that are released from the chemical reaction of the baking powder and baking soda.  It slows down the gluten formation to keep your bake fluffy.

Helps you from having that solid block of cake that is so dense your family won’t eat it.

It helps in binding together your other ingredients too.

Pretty easy to see why using unsweetened applesauce rocks, right? 

It’s higher in the good stuff and lower in all the bad stuff. 

Based on 100 grams of each here is the fibre content for:

what does applesauce do in baking

To further answer the question of what does applesauce do in baking?  Unsweetened applesauce plays the same role as butter or oil in your bake. 

Applesauce acts much like the fat.  It keeps the flour protein from mixing completely with the wet ingredients and forming a rubbery, dense texture.  This is what does applesauce do in baking.

What are some of the other benefits of using unsweetened applesauce in your bakes?

Firstly, unsweetened applesauce has naturally occurring sugars.  It will make your bake sweeter and allow you to use less processed sugar in the recipe. 

Forgot to mention these carbs are actually good for you as they can make you feel full for longer and among other benefits contribute to good gut health.

Enough about the healthy stuff, what about the taste of your baked goods?

Applesauce adds a pleasant depth and tartness along with a depth of flavour to your white or yellow cakes.

If you want to experience those wonderful childhood memories of caramel apples, use applesauce in your caramel cake recipes.

If you want to really up the game for your spice or gingerbread cakes using applesauce will take them into the stratosphere of taste!

You can also use it in your favourite chocolate cake recipe, the cocoa is going to outshine the applesauce so won’t have much apple flavour but you still get all the other added benefits.

The ratio is typically 1:1. If your recipe calls for one cup (237ml) of oil, substitute the same amount of applesauce.

If you are not ready to make the leap, why not try 50/50.  If your recipe calls for one cup (237ml) of oil or melted butter use half a cup of oil and half a cup of applesauce.

A few cautionary notes however.

Since applesauce adds its own liquid to your bake you need to keep an eye on the other liquid ingredients in your recipe.

Using applesauce in bakes that are already somewhat moist and dense, like banana bread, carrot cake, chocolate cake, spiced cakes or fruity muffins will produce the best results.

For more traditional recipes like white or yellow cakes you may need to reduce the other liquids by as much as ¼ cup.

If your chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for 1/3 cup of melted butter use ¼ cup of applesauce instead.

Only use unsweetened applesauce as the added sugar can affect the texture of your bake.

If you were wondering what does applesauce do in baking, hopefully we have answered that for you.

4 thoughts on “What does applesauce do in baking in 2023?”

  1. Thanks for this article! I was baking bread using an ancient grain (Einkorn) and feeling adventurous one afternoon so substituted unsweetened applesauce for all the fat. The result was the best loaf of Einkorn I’ve ever baked! Einkorn has weak gluten and this bread rose well, slices nicely and doesn’t fall apart.

    1. New Apple Sauce

      Thank you so much Cynthia. It is great to hear when folks get a rise out of using applesauce in their baking. I’ve never heard of Einkorn grain but have just Googled it. Amazing what you can learn each day. I’ll be in touch to ask if you could share your recipe so others can benefit from your knowledge and experience.

  2. For an Apple cinnamon loaf can Cranberry sauce be used for apple sauce? Or would it be better if I walk a half mile to the store and get the unsweetened APPLE sauce? Sounds like a lot better idea doesn’t it? Thanks!

    1. New Apple Sauce

      Hi Ron, I’m not sure about the cranberry sauce. However, I would suggest that the applesauce would work just fine as a replacement for the oil in your apple cinnamon loaf. It sounds yummy! Could you share the recipe so other folks can try it?

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