Forget Pumpkin: This Nostalgic Apple Duncan Hines Cake Mix Deserves A Fall Revival

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If there's one thing that softens the blow of summer's end, it's the promise of fall flavors. Autumnal treats are cozy, warming, and decadent, complex with everything from pumpkin, apple, and pear to caramel, nuts, and spices. There's a good chance that by mid-August, you're already planning your baking schedule with some of the best fall dessert recipes. There's also a good chance you're already feeling pumpkin fatigue. Are pumpkin sweets delicious? We think so. But they've become so ubiquitous, it makes you long for the days when there more diverse options. One such option we wish would make a comeback is Duncan Hines' Applesauce Raisin cake mix.

This is one of the many cake box mixes you can't buy anymore, sadly. Duncan Hines introduced Applesauce Raisin cake mix in the 1960s as part of their Early American line, which embraced a homey nostalgia by making colonial-era desserts easy to whip up in mid-20th-century kitches. In addition to Applesauce Raisin, there was also Fudge Nut and Butter Pecan. Duncan Hines touted applesauce cake's exceptional moisture and rich, warming flavor, easy to achieve because of that applesauce addition. 

Applesauce cake was indeed a staple bake in the New England colonies in the 1700s, and became especially popular in the 1950s, because of that ease: Applesauce brings moisture and flavor, and when you add raisins, you get texture and little bursts of different fruit flavor. Duncan Hines took the effortlessness of applesauce cake one step further with a boxed mix.

Applesauce raisin cake was easy, affordable, and delicious. But for reasons unclear beyond shifting trends, Duncan Hines discontinued its mix in the 1980s. Today, people with fond memories of making this treat growing up take to the internet to ask why it isn't on shelves anymore. 

"I made that cake many times, it was my dad's favorite," says one Facebook user on an applesauce raisin cake thread. We would like to officially request the return of Duncan Hines' Applesauce Raisin mix. There's only so much pumpkin you can have in one fall season, and the world needs more sweet apple, juicy raisins, and soft, moist cake, all made in a snap. 

In the meantime, even if you can't get the Duncan Hines mix, you can break up the pumpkin ubiquity and make a tasty applesauce cake at home. All it takes is mixing a cup of applesauce into your butter and sugar when prepping your batter. You can add those raisins in or not, and you can also sprinkle in chopped walnuts for some crunch. While the applesauce makes the cake moist on its own, you can level up the decadence with cream cheese frosting and, while we're at it, how about a drizzle of caramel, too? Served with extra treats like a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some hot or cold apple cider to drink, applesauce raisin cake will kick your pumpkin rut to the curb this autumn.