Applesauce Spice Cake

By Lsweetnell

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).

Adapted slightly from Merrill Stubbs, Food52.com

Ingredients

• CAKE:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 rounded teaspoon cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened (preferably homemade) applesauce
• 2/3 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• CARAMEL GLAZE:
• 4 tablespoons salted butter, cut into chunks
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 to 1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar

Details

Servings 12
Cooking time 60mins
Adapted from splashofsomething.com

Preparation

Step 1

Heat the oven to 350°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.