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Incredibly easy apple custard cake, made with homemade or store bought cake mix (gluten free or not), applesauce and the perfect spices. Fall perfection!
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!
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).
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.
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!
Easy Gluten Free Apple Custard Cake
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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi Nicole,
As a precaution, before saving this recipe, I looked through it to see if it was too hard for me. Instead, I discovered something that seems to be insurmountable.
Unfortunately, I must be dairy-free and I’ve never found a dairy-free condensed milk, sweetened or not. Do you have any ways to conquer this problem?
Thanks,
Kathleen
Hi, Kathleen, it’s always good practice to read through a recipe entirely before beginning to make it. Yes, there is actually dairy free sweetened condensed milk made from coconut milk. I find it in most larger grocery stores, and you can also order it online.
Hi Nicole-I’ve made many successful recipes from your site but this is not one of them. I have a grandson who is Gluten & Dairy free for 7 yrs.
Basically the “custard” was applesauce and runny and the “dry cake mix” stayed dry so was raw white powder after baking. Yes I followed the instructions very carefully (I’ve been cooking & baking for 50 yrs!). I did use vegan condensed milk, dairy free butter and King Arthur gluten free yellow cake mix. Plus it was so sweet it wasn’t edible!! Went right into the compost bin. And I like sweet.
This is my first ever review but compelled to share my results! Thank you
It’s a shame you didn’t have a good experience with this recipe, Ellen. Making it vegan for sure affected your result. If you’ve had other successful recipes from my site, I’d hope you’d also go out of your way to share your experience with them, too.
I also forgot to mention that it took quite a bit longer to bake. I will need to check my oven temperature again since it has been awhile and it may be out more then the 25 degrees it used to be. Either way it is baked and smells great!
I just gave this a 5 star rating on the smell alone!! lol. It looks delishous but I just pulled it out so I have to wait until its cool. I do have some questions. I read in one of the comments that to double the recipe its best to bake in two smaller pans and in another comment to double everything except the cake mix and bake in a bigger pan (9×13?). Which way is best? Also is the applesauce and condensed milk weight or fluid measurements? I could only find 400g gf cake mixes, but 16 oz is 453 g, so I added 53 g of better batter to make it the proper size. If i can double the recipe without doubling the cake mix would I need to add the extra flour? I had so many questions that I just went ahead and made it. I used a liquid measuring cup that has the oz on it to measure the applesauce and condensed milk. I made it as a trial run to see how it turns out before I make it for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law next weekend. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes!!
Hi, Nancy, I know that some readers have reported having success doubling everything but the cake mix, but I don’t recommend that, and can’t see how it would turn out in a sliceable form. My recommendations have been and remain doubling everything and baking in two separate pans, which I’ve expressed in the comments. Ingredients that are in fluid ounces are listed as fluid ounces (or with the abbreviation fl.oz.), and those are volume measurement. Ingredients that are weight measurements are listed a ounces or “oz.” I hope that’s helpful.
Is there a dairy free recipe for sweetened condensed milk? This recipe sounds delicious but daughter in law also cannot have dairy.
Hi, Evelyn, good news, because yes! There is a relatively widely available dairy free coconut milk sweetened condensed milk. I find it in most larger grocery stores, too.
Wow, this is a fantastic recipe!
I used salted butter accidentally so it felt like a salted top which was lovely too.
Sooo moist and flavorful.
I had most of a box of gf yellow cake mix and a lot of homemade applesauce on hand.
Probably topped with a large number of spoonfuls of applesauce.
I used an 8” pan so cooked the extra 15 minutes, and then an additional 20 minutes till it was done.
So 55 minutes total. And it was done perfectly!
Thank you for this super easy, will make many times!