Applesauce Raisin Rum Cake
This festive bundt cake is a delicious treat that isn't overly sweet.
Recipe of the Day
Discover a New Recipe Every Day. Give Back With Every Bite.
Every day, we feature a hand-picked recipe for you to discover, cook, and share. The best part?
Every recipe you read helps feed the hungry.
We’re firm believers in the power of a baked good, and we especially love a good bundt. Especially a bundt cake that is as light and sweet as this one, our applesauce raisin rum cake. We’ve all had our fair share of fruitcakes, and there’s just something about the fall and winter that calls for a sweet fruited cake, the added bonus being that our kitchen (the whole house, really) smells so homey and warm. Our applesauce raisin rum cake is a lovely way to bring in the smells and tastes of the season in all wrapped up in a bundt.
Golden raisins are light and juicy in flavor and texture, making them a delightful way to sweeten up each bite of the cake, while walnuts offer a nice bit of crunch and nutty flavor. If you’ve never tried it before, applesauce is a great alternative to oil or butter in a baked good. We also like it because it adds moisture and a nice subtle sweetness. We’ve gone with a rum extract, but you could also add a little bit of a dark rum to the batter, it’s spicy and packs a little punch when it comes to flavor.
Fall and winter weekends are the best time to relax and enjoy one of our favorite hobbies: baking, especially now with the holiday season so close at hand. If you’re not making this for immediate family, it’s a lovely treat to share at all of the holiday festivities that are starting to pop up on the calendar, to bring into the office break room to share with coworkers, as a lovely hostess gift, or potluck contribution. Our applesauce raisin rum bundt cake looks and tastes festive and delicious, and it must be shared!
Applesauce Raisin Rum Cake
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar (optional: light brown sugar)
- 2 teaspoons rum extract
- 1 cup golden raisins
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups applesauce, unsweetened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
Preparation
- Preheat oven 350°F. Grease and flour a 12 cup bundt pan. Set aside.
- Toss walnuts and golden raisins in a small bowl.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a bowl. Take ¼ cup of flour mixture and toss with walnuts and raisins.
- Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add rum extract and beat until well combined.
- Stir in 1 cup applesauce followed by ½ of the flour mixture until combined. Add the second cup of applesauce and stir, followed by remaining flour mixture.
- Fold walnuts and golden raisins into batter, avoid over mixing. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan.
- Bake for 1 hour, checking after 50 minutes. When a cake tester comes out clean, the cake is ready to be removed from the oven.
- Cool directly in the bundt pan for 10 minutes. Carefully remove from pan to finish cooling on a wire rack.
- To serve, dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Magnolia Days.