Like any other self-respecting, seasonally driven Pinterester, I’ve spent the better part of the past month searching the interwebs for fall-filled recipes and holiday décor ideas. There were the pumpkin spice latte copycat recipes, the “12 ways to decorate with gourds” kind of posts and plenty of outfits involving riding boots and scarves. And I know I’m not the only one. That “Holidays and Events” board on Pinterest is hopping.
Among the smorgasbord of fall-appropriate pins were also a slew of ideas for what to do with the mountains of apples I knew we’d bring home from apple picking this year. This time around, we went for the big bag (about 20 pounds), so as much as we all like eating those guys just plain, it’s taken a little planning to make sure they all go to good use. Homemade applesauce uses a ton of apples, and this cake uses a ton of homemade applesauce. Oh, and it’s topped with caramel, so… yes.
For those of you who like a dense, rich pumpkin cake kind of recipe, this cake is an amazing alternative. Its texture is very much the same. And it’s appley, spice-filled and tastes like fall. It keeps really well, too, for at least three days in an airtight container (it might keep even longer, but our tummies didn’t wait to find out).
And because I had even more applesauce leftover from the big batch I made in the Crock-Pot last week, there’s a second applesauce spice cake cooling on the counter as we speak. Huzzah! It really is that good, guys.
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Applesauce Spice Cake
Adapted slightly from Merrill Stubbs, Food52.com
For the cake:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ rounded teaspoon cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 ½ cups unsweetened (preferably homemade) applesauce
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the caramel glaze:
• 4 tablespoons salted butter, cut into chunks
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• ¾ to 1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F, and butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves, and set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs with both sugars until light. Then add the applesauce, oil and vanilla, and mix until smooth.
Using a spatula, fold in the dry ingredients (careful not to overmix!). Pour the batter into the Bundt pan, and bake for about 45 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake for 10 minutes in the pan on a rack before turning it out and cooling completely on the rack. Wait until the cake is cool to make the caramel glaze.
The make the glaze, put a piece of foil or paper under the cooling rack to catch any drips before you start. Then, put the butter in a medium saucepan with the brown sugar, cream and salt over medium heat. Bring it to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil for one minute, and then pull it off the heat.
Leave the pan to cool for a couple of minutes, and then slowly whisk in the (sifted!) powdered sugar until you have a thick but pourable consistency (you might not need all the sugar). If the mixture seems too thick, add a splash of cream to thin it out a little. Immediately pour the glaze over the cake, moving slowly and evenly to cover as much of the cake as possible. Let the glaze set before serving the cake.
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XO,
Katrina
Oh my, this looks delightful!
It is! It is! Especially with a cup of coffee. 😉
making this now – going to give it as a gift for a friend who is single and doesn’t cook. He’ll love it. thanks for sharing this recipe.
Maureen
Yay! Hope he liked it!
Baking this recipe off today in muffin tins to make it feel “healthier”. Because muffins are healthy 🙂 Cheers!
I’ve never made this recipe in muffin tins before! Please let me know how it turns out! How fun! And yes, I’m totally with you on the muffins-feel-healthier thing. 😉
I love it, made it sure was delicious, I will do it again.
I’m so glad to hear that! I just made it for the first time this season last week, too, and it made the whole house feel like fall! 🙂
can you share your applesauce recipe?
Yes, very soon! We’re going apple picking this weekend, so I’ll have a slew of new apples to experiment with!
Making the applesauce now in the crockpot. The apples come from a 150 year old tree, they are huge and delicious. Tomorrow will make this cake. Looks like a good recipe.
Wow, that’s the coolest! Hope you love the cake! And how lucky you are to have a Crock Pot full of applesauce today. I bet your house smells amazing!
This cake has the most amazing aroma while baking! So much so , that you find it very hard to wait on it to cool and be glazed! It is very easy to put together and I always have all the ingredients on hand! Love it with a cup of coffee! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
So glad you love it!
Ohmygoodnessgosh it’s wonderful I made it out of a wimmmmmm for us tonight before I actually sat down my husband in haled his he keep saying it was so good I’m so happy he liked it I will be making this for the holidays – easy affordable and it’s a nice surprise w the Carmel icing – thanks for Sharing ?
That makes me so happy to hear! Once fall hits, we make this cake all the time. It’s a crowd-pleaser for sure! Thank YOU for sharing! 🙂
Very,very,good, moist cake, the applesauce spice cake is. Made with fresh McIntosh apples. And quick!
Didn’t use mixer, mixed by hand,came out perfect. I added Pecan pices to the batter.
So glad to hear the cake works out well by hand, without the mixer. And I’m so glad to hear you like it so much! 🙂
I am making this for the second time this week. It is so easy, flavorful, and moist!
It’s been heavy in the rotation around here, too. Just smells like the holidays, right? 🙂