Crunchy Dried Cherry Applesauce Cake Bars

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Are you looking for a delicious cakey dessert, filled with dried fruit, that has an amazing crunch? Well then, these applesauce cake bars are just what you’re looking for. They’re filled with dried cherries and sunflower seeds, which makes this moist and chewy. Then, they’re covered in a sweet topping made with brown sugar, butter, sunflower seeds, and crushed corn flakes to make them over-the-top crunchy. These are seriously crunchtastic.

After my mom suddenly passed away earlier this year, I realized that there weren’t many things that belonged to her that I felt I needed to have in my life. Except for her recipes, of course. Those I made sure to pick up before my dad could toss them, give them away, or hide them away in some dark corner of the house where I would never stand a chance in hell of finding them.

When it came to recipes, my mom didn’t just have one recipe box, she had five recipe boxes. Two of them were completely stuffed to the brim, two of them had some room left inside for future recipes, and one very pretty one was completely empty. I can only guess, that at one point, she had plans to maybe put her favorite recipes in that particular box and just never got around to it.

The first recipe I pulled out of one of the packed recipe boxes was for Crunch Top Applesauce Bars. Well hello, my first thought was, I do believe that sounds like a winner. The recipe was typed out onto an old, stained, piece of general insurance office stationery, which made me wonder who the recipe originally came from. After asking a few people, I’m left with the belief that it was probably from my great-aunt Margaret.

Now, there were a few problems with this vintage recipe, the main one being that it not only called for walnuts but also for chopped dates as well. Well, first of all, B.O.B. Bob is deathly allergic to tree nuts, so the nuts were definitely out if I wanted to keep him around in my life. And secondly, neither one of us is a crazy fan of chopped dates. There are just so many other dried fruits out there to be found that taste so much better.

So, after replacing the walnuts with roasted salted sunflower seeds, swapping in dried cherries for chopped dates, and making several other little adjustments, these crunchy cake bars were born. And let me just tell you, the crunch on these suckers is amazing. Now, I almost can’t wait to dig through my mom’s recipe boxes some more, to see what other little treasures I can find. This particular one is definitely going into the pretty recipe box.

Ingredients:

Cake Batter:

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature (Additional for Greasing Pan)
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
1 1/2 Cups Applesauce
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 Cup Dried Unsweetened Cherries
1/4 Cup Roasted Salted Sunflower Seeds

Crunchy Topping:

2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Melted
1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
2/3 Cup Corn Flakes, Finely Crushed
1/4 Cup Roasted Salted Sunflower Seeds

Directions:

Cake Batter:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9×13 metal cake pan with foil and liberally grease with butter; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Add the applesauce and vanilla; mix for 1 minute.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
Add the mixture to the mixing bowl and mix with a silicone spatula until everything is well combined.
Fold the dried cherries and sunflower seeds into the cake batter.
Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan and evenly spread out the batter with a knife or silicone spatula.

Crunchy Topping:

In a medium bowl, stir the melted butter and brown sugar together until well combined.
Add the finely crushed corn flakes and sunflower seeds. Stir to combine.
Evenly sprinkle the mixture over the top of the cake batter. Gently use the palm of your hand to press the mixture down into the cake a bit.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

Suggestions:

The batter for this cake is quite thick, which is why I use a foil-lined pan in this recipe, instead of a parchment paper-lined one. The parchment paper would move around too much while trying to spread out the batter.
You will need approximately 1 1/3 cups of corn flakes to yield 2/3 cups of crushed corn flakes.
If you bake the cake too long it will become dry. I suggest checking on the cake every 2 minutes after it has baked for 25 minutes to see if it is done.
You don’t have to line the cake pan with foil if you don’t want to, however, it makes for much easier cleanup and also helps to cut the cake into bars with almost no effort. Just lift the cake out of the pan by grabbing the edge of the foil and then cut the cake into squares.
CLICK HERE to see the original vintage recipe for Crunch Top Applesauce Bars.

Improvements:

Replace the sunflower seeds in this recipe with pumpkin seeds, pecans, or walnuts.
In lieu of cherries, try using dried cranberries or apples in this recipe.
Now that you have corn flakes in your house, try making these Crunchy Corn Flake Oven-Baked Chicken Tenders.

Yum

Crunchy Dried Cherry Applesauce Cake Bars

Ingredients:

Cake Batter:

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature (Additional for Greasing Pan)
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
1 1/2 Cups Applesauce
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 Cup Dried Unsweetened Cherries
1/4 Cup Roasted Salted Sunflower Seeds

Crunchy Topping:

2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Melted
1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
2/3 Cup Corn Flakes, Finely Crushed
1/4 Cup Roasted Salted Sunflower Seeds

Directions:

Cake Batter:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 metal cake pan with foil and liberally grease with butter; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Add the applesauce and vanilla; mix for 1 minute.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
Add the mixture to the mixing bowl and mix with a silicone spatula until everything is well combined.
Fold the dried cherries and sunflower seeds into the cake batter.
Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pan and evenly spread out the batter with a knife or silicone spatula.

Crunchy Topping:

In a medium bowl, stir the melted butter and brown sugar together until well combined.
Add the finely crushed corn flakes and sunflower seeds. Stir to combine.
Evenly sprinkle the mixture over the top of the cake batter. Gently use the palm of your hand to press the mixture down into the cake a bit.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

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