Low-Fat Baking

• It can be a challenge to be on a low-fat diet and not have cake, especially if you have a sweet tooth. A way to reduce calories and fat in your baked goods is to swap unsweetened applesauce for oil in your recipe. This exchange will make your baked goods heart-healthy. Applesauce will moisten your cake mix without adding extra calories. Use the same amount of applesauce instead of oil.

Dairy Substitute

• Applesauce is a good substitute for butter or milk in baking. You can use a 1 to 1 ratio as a milk replacement. If your recipe calls for butter you can use half the amount of applesauce and half the amount of oil. This combination of ingredients will keep your cake from getting soggy, which may happen if you use only applesauce in place of the butter.

Texture

• Using applesauce as an ingredient replacement will yield a denser, very moist cake. But it can also be used to improve the texture of any type of cake that may be on the dry side. Simply adding in a few tablespoons to your batter will ensure that you do not end up with a dry, crumbly final baked good. In addition to incorporating into cake mix, applesauce works well in muffin mixes. However applesauce should not be added to cookies as it will make them far too moist to stay together.

Taste

• Create different flavor profiles using flavored applesauce. Cinnamon-flavored applesauce will enhance the flavor of a cake with walnuts or pecans. Adding a raspberry applesauce to your mix will not only vary the taste but will give it a slightly reddish hue. Using sweetened applesauce makes the cake sweeter while still reducing the fat.