5 from 11 votes

Prep Time : 15

Cook Time : 35

Gluten free easy apple custard cake is made with homemade or store bought cake mix (gluten free or not), applesauce and the perfect spices.

Jump to Recipe

Incredibly easy apple custard cake, made with homemade or store bought cake mix (gluten free or not), applesauce and the perfect spices. Fall perfection!

A piece of apple custard cake with a bite taken out of it on a white plate

WANT TO SAVE THIS RECIPE?

We'll send the recipe to your inbox, so you can come back to it later!

Why we love this gluten free apple custard cake

It's time for gluten free apple recipes that will knock your gluten free apple baking socks off. I present this addictive gluten free apple custard cake. You're welcome, and I'm terribly sorry. But mostly, you're welcome.

If you live within an hour's drive of apple trees this time of year, you're going to be coming in to some apples. Even if you don't go apple-picking. Since I assume you have at least some neighbors, you'll have apples. If nothing else, apples will soon be the least expensive, best-looking fruit at the grocery store. So we'd better get to work putting them to good use!

An overhead view of apple custard cake in metal tin on white surface

This apple custard cake is crazy easy to throw together, even if you make your own applesauce (which I do regularly, since I've got to more apples and my neighbors see me coming a mile away).

I don't even add any sugar to my applesauce when the apples are really fresh. I do add ground cinnamon or apple pie spice (which is mostly cinnamon – see the DIY apple pie spice below).

2 white plates with a piece of apple custard cake on them

I don't know why this cake works. I do know that it does. And that it is almost pudding-like inside. I don't know much, but I know that. If you don't want to make it, maybe I just don't know you like I thought I did.

This is the sort of recipe that's just so easy that, when you're ready to put it in the oven after less than 5 minutes of prep, you double and triple check the recipe—just to be sure you didn't miss a step.

Side view of apple custard cake on brown parchment paper

All you do to make this amazing cake is mix applesauce (store-bought or homemade) with sweetened condensed milk (again, store-bought or homemade), eggs, a bit of sugar, plenty of apple pie spice. Add about 1/3 of a box (store-bought or homemade with my recipe) of vanilla cake mix, mix to combine and pour into a square baking dish. Sprinkle the rest of the dry cake mix in an even layer on top, followed by the melted butter. Pop it in the oven. That's it.

The result is a moist and impossibly tender, custard-like bottom apple cake layer topped with a shortbread style top. And, naturally, a house that smells like heaven and a cheering family!

Print Pin Save

Easy Gluten Free Apple Custard Cake

Gluten free easy apple custard cake is made with homemade or store bought cake mix (gluten free or not), applesauce and the perfect spices.

Course: Cake, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 35

Yield: 9 slices cake

Author: Nicole Hunn

Ingredients

8 ounces applesauce (homemade or chunky store-bought) plus more for drizzling
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
2 ½ teaspoons apple pie spice (plus more for sprinkling) (See Recipe Notes)
1 box (16 ounces) gluten-free yellow cake mix
8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan, line it with crisscrossed sheets of unbleached parchment paper, greasing in between the papers, and set it aside.
In a medium-sized bowl, place the 8 ounces applesauce, condensed milk, eggs, sugar and apple pie spice, and beat until well-combined. Add about ⅓ of the dry cake mix to the mixture, and mix to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the rest of the dry cake mix on top, and smooth carefully until the cake mix covers the applesauce layer evenly.
Pour the melted butter evenly on top of the cake.
Sprinkle on a bit more apple pie spice and scatter a few dollops of applesauce on top of the cake.
Cover the pan with foil.
Place the cake in the center of the preheated oven, and bake for 20 minutes.
Uncover, and bake until the cake has begun to pull away slightly from the side of the pan and is set on top (another 12 minutes for a 9-inch pan, about 15 minutes for an 8-inch pan).
Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing into squares and serving.

Notes

To make your own apple pie spice, combine 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom + 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg + 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger + 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice.