Add the 12 oz can of soda, apple sauce, and oil and stir with a whisk for about 30 seconds until a smooth batter.
If making a gluten-free cake, let the batter sit for about 5 minutes before baking. (This allows the grains to soften a little more).
Pour into a greased cake pan or cupcake liners and bake.
Baking Times:
Cupcakes - 18-22 minutes8"x 8" Pan - 36-40 minutes9"x 9" Pan - 33-37 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Notes
Be sure to preheat the oven about 5 minutes before you start making the cake. You can make this cake faster than it will take your oven to heat up.
If making a cake:
Grease your cake pan well.
Cool it completely before taking it out of the baking dish
If making cupcakes:
Spray the cupcake liners with a spray oil before adding the batter. (These tend to stick to the cupcake paper a little if you don't do this.
Take the cupcakes out of the tin as soon as they have cooled down enough to hold.
Allow cupcakes to cool completely outside of the tin.
Turn a white or yellow cake mix into any flavor:
Chocolate Cake - Add a 1/2 cup cocoa powder to the dry cake mix. Use sprite or ginger ale or add 1-2 tbsp of sugar if using soda water. (The chocolate is bitter, so you have to sweeten it up a little).
Strawberry - blend 1/2 cup of freeze-dried strawberries in a blender until they turn into a powder and add with the dry cake mix. You can also use a can of strawberry soda.
Rootbeer - Use a can of rootbeer as the soda that you add. Top with vanilla buttercream for a rootbeer float flavor.
Orange Creamcycle - Use a can of orange soda (plus 1 tsp of orange extract for a stronger flavor) in the cake batter and top with vanilla buttercream.
Lemon - Use a neutral or lemon-flavored soda or soda water and add 3 tsp of lemon extract to the batter.
Funfetti - Add 2 tbsp of vegan sprinkles to the cake batter.