3 Ingredient Apple Cake (No Eggs, Butter or Oil)
This easy apple cake is so easy to make. It’s just 3 ingredients and doesn’t contain any eggs, butter or oil, but you won’t miss them at all. The cake is very moist and soft. You don’t even need a mixer to make the batter. This cake is perfect for dessert or served with afternoon tea or coffee.
I’ve been trying to create more eggless cake recipes lately. I think of the next few months as cake season and eggs are a common allergen so it’s nice to have some eggless cake options.
Ingredients
- Applesauce
- Condensed Milk
- Self-Rising Flour
Applesauce: Unsweetened applesauce is used in this recipe as an egg replacement. It helps create a structure for the cake and provides a lot of moisture and helps create the cake’s soft texture. This recipe will not work well with sweetened applesauce because it adds too much sugar to the batter and not enough liquid which will make the cake very dense.
Condensed Milk: This cake uses full fat sweetened condensed milk. Condensed milk is very rich and acts as a substitute for the butter. It also works as a binding agent because of its sticky texture. If you need a dairy free alternative, you can try sweetened condensed coconut milk. I haven’t tested it with this cake but it’s been a good substitute for me with other recipes.
Self-Rising Flour: This cake is made with self-rising flour. This is flour that already has baking powder and salt added to it which is why you don’t need to add them to the recipe. If you don’t have self-rising flour, you can make your own by mixing together all purpose flour, baking powder and salt. I share the exact amounts in the recipe card notes.
Cake Texture
This cake does not have a classic cake texture, like the kind you find in cupcakes or birthday cakes. The crumb is tighter, so it is more like a sponge cake. It is very much like a cake you would serve with tea or coffee. If you are looking for a cake that can be made into cupcakes or used as a birthday cake, I do have an eggless 4 Ingredient Birthday cake recipe.
How to Make Apple Cake
This batter is easily mixed by hand. You will first whisk together the wet ingredients. The flour is then briefly sifted using a whisk, just to break up any large clumps. It’s then added to the wet batter and mixed until you have a smooth batter. The batter is then ready to go in the oven to be baked.
More Easy Cake Recipes
- 4 Ingredient Chocolate Cake
- 4 Ingredient Strawberry Cake
- 3 Ingredient Pound Cake
- 4 Ingredient Banana Cake
- 3 Ingredient Honey Cake
3 Ingredient Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (185 g) unsweetened applesauce
- 1 (14 oz) can (397 g) sweetened full fat condensed milk
- 1 ¼ cups (156 g) self-rising flour, see note before starting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add applesauce and condensed milk. Whisk until evenly combined.
- Add flour to a separate bowl. Use a clean whisk to briefly sift flour (move your whisk rapidly back and forth through the flour until it becomes light and powdery and no clumps remain). Pour flour into wet batter. Whisk until flour is completely incorporated and no flour clumps remain. If you see any flour clumps, use the same back and forth motion with your whisk to remove lumps rather than just stirring in a circular motion.
- Pour batter into prepared cake pan. Bake cake for about 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. It's okay if some cake crumbs cling to the toothpick but there should not be any wet batter on your toothpick. Let cake cool fully before removing and cutting. I dusted mine with powdered sugar before serving but that is completely optional. The cake is sweet enough on its own.
Notes
- There are 2 main kinds of self-rising flour sold in the US. One that is a lower protein flour (2 grams per 1/4 cup serving) and one that has a regular amount of protein or the same protein amount that is in all purpose flour (3 grams per 1/4 cup). Brands like King Arthur Flour and White Lily make the low protein flour. I used Lily's self-rising flour* to make this recipe.
- Please make sure to use a self-rising flour with low protein (2 grams per 1/4 cup serving). If your self-rising flour does not have low protein, then use the following homemade version:
- To make your own homemade self-rising flour, whisk together 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, 4 tbsp cornstarch, 3 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt to a bowl. Measure out 1 1/4 cups for the recipe.
- Make sure to use unsweetened applesauce. Sweetened applesauce will add too much sugar to your batter and not enough liquid which will make your cake heavy, dense, and chewy.
- Make sure to use sweetened full fat condensed milk. Condensed milk is usually sold in 14 oz cans. If you use a 14 oz can, you can just use the full can and not have to measure it out. If you need to measure it out, 1 can is 1 1/4 cups or 397 grams.
- The flour does not need to be fully sifted with a flour sifter. However because the batter is so wet, it is difficult to break up any flour clumps once it is added to the wet batter, which is why the instructions require you to do a brief sifting using your whisk to remove any large flour clumps.
- The cake can be stored for 1-2 days at room temperature in a sealed container. If storing for longer, store in fridge or freezer.
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.
A CAUTIONARY TALE — So I made this recipe & it was DELICIOUS. My neighbor tried the same exact recipe & it was utterly awful (tasted like unflavored sand). I went over to try & figure out what had happened, and after looking in the trash, I discovered the problem: evaporated milk was accidentally used instead of condensed milk. Trust me, they aren’t the same thing lol. She tried again and it was yummy.
Yes, they’re not interchangeable! We’re glad you loved the recipe and helped your neighbor figure out her mistake!
can I use oatmilk as a sub for the condensed?
Oat milk will not work well in this recipe – if you want a dairy-free option, we recommend sweetened condensed coconut milk.
Really lightly flavored and spongy. Reminds me of Gâteau au Yaourt a super simple traditional french recipe cake made with yogurt that parents make with their toddlers. I’ve been looking for more recipes like that and I made this with my 3 year old and we loved it. We added half a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. If you love condensed milk (like my family) this is a yummy treat.
We’re glad you love it!
This cake was indeed spongy as advertised. However, the finished product was completely devoid of flavor. If I hadn’t made it myself, and according to the recipe, I would have never guessed that it contained an apple product. I just threw out the cake, as it was the worst cake I’ve ever tasted. I gave a piece to my neighbor; he also threw his into the trash.
We’re sorry you didn’t enjoy it without knowing more it’s hard to say what might have gone wrong. Many readers have made it with success and enjoyed it.
I think the recipe had plenty of taste of apples to it and it is indeed a sponge cake. Maybe you accidently used unsweetened condensed milk? Maybe trying some cooked sliced granny smith apples since more tart apple to counter the sweetness.
Thank you for chiming in!
I made the pumpkin cake & it’s fantastic. I added a capful of concentrated lemon juice to the frosting.
I would like to see gluten free baking idea too for a friend I have or how to alter the above.
We have lots of Gluten-Free Recipes you might like to try.
What about non dairy condensed milk?
As mentioned in the post, you can try sweetened condensed coconut milk as a dairy-free alternative.
Hello I want to try this but I’m in Ireland. Can only find sweetened applesauce. I see you said the batter would be too thick. If I added water or milk do you think this would help with the batter? Looking forward to hearing from you.
Sorry, but we don’t have a good suggestion for you – we only know that it doesn’t work and can’t say how you can adjust the recipe to make it work.
Making unsweetened applesauce is the easiest thing, just peel and core about 3-6 apples, cut in chunks and put in a pan on low heat. No water no sugar. It sweats. Put a lid on. I like adding cinnamon. Once it’s soft, mash with potato masher.
Trust me, you’ll make it all the time, I do.
Thanks for sharing your tips!
Great substitution with apple .i have to try that
This just didn’t work out for me
I make cake from receipe and it was doughy.
Used right size pan. What I shouldn’t have used was the parchment paper. End up throwing it out.
By doughy do you mean the cake was not fully baked? Or, was the texture tough?
Sweetened condensed milk is 55% sugar so the recipe is hardly sugar free for those who thought it was.
Just FYI, we never said it was sugar-free.
I’m so happy that I came across this recipe. My 3-year-old asked for cake (randomly) yesterday. We recently gave up sugar so our baking adventures have involved using dates and other fruit as sweeteners. My previous attempts with these “depression” style cakes involved sugar and were great, but I’m excited to see how this will turn out. I plan to use Granny Smith Applesauce (unsweetened), coconut condensed milk (since we’re vegan), and whole spelt flour with some apple pie spice or cinnamon/vanilla. Maybe some nuts for texture. Let’s hope it turns out well!
We hope you love it!
Very easy and delicious. I topped it with turbinado sugar and cinnamon and used an unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon in it and loved the result. Next time I am adding some finally chopped nuts to the sugar cinnamon sugar topping for a little added texture.
I’m glad you liked it!
Lining the pan with parchment paper is a pain (for me anyway). Will the results be the same without it?
You can grease and flour the pan or try using baking spray. Hope that helps!
You only need to put parchment paper on the bottom of a cake pan. Just Trace around the bottom of the pan and cut to fit. The paper should not go up the sides as the sides of the cake will automatically pull away from the pan as it cools and shrinks just a bit.
I made this cake today and it was so delicious, instead of adding 3/4 of unsweetened applesauce I added a little more and added some cinnamon and it came out ? my kid loved it.( Told him I didn’t add any sugar). Still loved it. Thanks for the easy recipe…,..
I’m so glad it worked out for you!
Sooo good
I’m so glad you liked it!
Didn’t work, very dense, measured everything correctly and used a new bag of SR flour but mixture was really thick, after it was cooked it had a fudgy bottom layer with the top layer being a bit more cake like.
Hi there. We are sorry your cake didn’t tur out. I believe we tried to problem-solve your issue over some direct messages and we believe the problem was that you used sweetened applesauce, which adds too much sugar to the batter and not enough liquid. This could definitely lead to the cake separating and being dense. Also, this recipe was only tested with US ingredients. There might be a difference in how the applesauce or condensed milk is in Britain which might also be causing issues with your cake.
Sounds amazing!
I’ve made 2 so far. Second ,I got creative and added Mandrian oranges and dried cranberries and then sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top. That turned out really good, the extra seemed to take away some of sweetness .
Both were really good. Family and neighbors enjoyed both. Thanks for great recipe.
I’m so glad it worked out well for you! Thank you for sharing your variations
The apple cake with 3 ingredients turned out awful. Didnt rise. Don’t think I’ll try it again.
If your cake didn’t rise it sounds like an issue with your baking powder. Either your self-rising flour might have been too old or if you made your own, your baking powder may have been too old.
Very good indeed
I’m so glad you liked it!
I’m my goodness! My husband loved this cake and has asked, “will I make a larger size for his poker game?”, I made a lemon glaze and cooked for 25 minutes in a Pyrex 8×8. Perfect! *what are you recommendations for a 8×11 cake?
I’m so glad it worked out well! You can try doubling the recipe for an 8 x 11 pan.
Love the recipe. Will definitely try.
We hope you love it!
I need to try
I hope you enjoy!
Love to make apple cake but can’t have condensed milk anything else I could use?
Sorry, we don’t have a good substitute.
Try Condensed Coconut milk. It worked perfectly for us. (If you don’t milk a coconut flavor)
Thanks for the tip!
I made this cake and I expected more than I got. It is very dense as the recipe said it would be, but it is also very dry. The taste is very bland. I tried adding some apple pie spice and some vanilla extract which helped some but not enough. The batter is so thick I had trouble stirring it so I added about 2 more tablespoons off apple sauce to make it easier to stir. We will eat it with out coffee in the morning. I think I will make this cake again and make a few changes. All and all, it will go pretty good as a coffee cake.
It sounds like you may have added too much flour if you found your batter too thick and the cake was dry or too dense. When measuring flour, you need to add it to measuring cup with a spoon and then level off with a knife instead of directly inserting measuring cup into the flour bag. Also if you were making your own self-rising flour, you need to measure out 1 1/4 cups for recipe and not use the whole amount. Or, did you use sweetened applesauce? Using sweetened applesauce will add too much sugar to the batter and not enough liquid. This would make the batter thick and hard to stir and also alter the final texture.
Thank you so much..i try this apple cake..
I hope you like it!
Follow the recipe and it came out perfect, as did the banana cake earlier in the week. I’ve been baking for 50 years and been a baker making a living for a few and the successful outcome of these three and four ingredient recipes are blowing my mind. The baking powder in my SF flower will never go bad because I’m going to make a few of these recipes a week. Yeeha. And the kids are grown and I’m old and live alone so the 8×8 pan recipe is just the right size. Thank you Kirby’s cravings.
We’re so glad you’re enjoying the recipes!
It looks great . Going to make one over the weekend. Many thanks.jan
We hope you enjoy it!
Why is it necessary to measure 2 cups of flour when you only need 1-1/4 cups of flour?
It is not completely necessary but it is easier to measure out and makes for a more accurate result if you are using cups instead of a scale. If you want, you can use 1 1/4 cups of flour, 1 7/8 tsp baking powder and 5/16 tsp salt. Many people don’t own a 1/16 tsp spoon and it is easier to mess up these measurements.
Thanks so much for your recipes. They are amazingly good
You are welcome!
Can I use buttermilk if I don’t have condensed milk?
buttermilk will not work as a substitute for condensed milk
Hi there, this looks like a simple yummy cake. However, I an celiac so I was wondering if you can recommend a GF version?
You can try a 1 for 1 self rising gluten-free flour. We haven’t tried it, so let us know how it works.
I don’t see apple in this cake.
Only the 3 ingredients
applesauce is made of apples…
Looking forward to making the applesauce cake
Enjoy!
Finding these recipes is very exciting. When you need a home baked dessert, quickly, this is it. Thanks so much.
The best cake I like it
I’m glad you liked it!
This sounds so easy… Would finely grated fresh apples work instead of the applesauce, do you think please
I don’t think finely grated apples will work in place of applesauce
Hi, there??
Thank for this site…I just luv-it!…
Gonna most certainly try out the recipes.
These recipes would also help with weight loss and healthy eating habits…lol
Thank again…
So glad you love the recipes!
Can I make applesauce from scratch? Can you please give me a recipe to work on
Thank you
Helen
You can make homemade applesauce, but we don’t have an exact recipe to share for that. When we make our own at home, we peel and core the apples. Then, cut them into slices and cook until soft. Puree the soft apples in the blender.
I would like to make this cake. May I make the sugar free applesauce from fresh apples I have own hand?
Homemade applesauce should work.