Applesauce cake is one of my favorite cakes for the fall season. This cake is ultra-moist with applesauce and spices such as cinnamon, cloves and allspice. The penuche frosting goes perfectly with this cake. It’s a cooked brown sugar frosting that has a buttery caramel-like flavor. The frosting pours on, is easy to spread and then hardens to a fudge-like consistency.
It seems like just last month, we were grilling on our Weber and enjoying the last of our fresh corn, homegrown tomatoes and wearing our flip-flops. Fall has nudged is way back, and the internet recipe sites are proof of that.
It’s time for pumpkin recipes, a hundred different ways to prepare turkey. The grocery store produce section is now loaded with mounds of squash, apples and grapes as big as golf balls.
I adore pumpkin, but there are a lot of people who don’t. I’d say there’s something “off” with that, only I’m also one of those weirdos who doesn’t care for squash– except for the aforementioned pumpkin. As for apples, it’s not my favorite pie, either. Pass me the pumpkin pie, and the whipped cream, while you’re at it. Please. For you pumpkin-haters, I have an alternative for you.
Applesauce Cake! Top it with a Fudge-like caramel-tasting cooked frosting, and you have a fall dessert that is a crowd pleaser. Now, that’s my way of enjoying apples!
I adore spice cake/apple sauce cake as far back as my childhood. I think my love affair with Applesauce Cake started with a boxed cake mix. I believe it was Spice Cake. (Gosh, it’s been a while since I was a kid, but I’m pretty sure that was it.) Applesauce and Spice Cake are cousins, I think. The spices are pretty much identical… cinnamon, allspice…cloves.
Applesauce Cake with Penuche Frosting
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups white sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cups applesauce
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts optional
- 1 cup raisins optional
For the frosting:
- 1/2 cup (1-stick) butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup hot milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
For the cake:
- Sift flour, white sugar, soda, salt, baking powder, and spices into a large mixing bowl.
- Mix in 1/2 cup butter, buttermilk, and applesauce. Beat for 2 minutes with an electric mixer on medium speed.
- Beat in eggs.
- Fold in chopped nuts and/or raisins (if using).
- Pour batter into a greased and floured 9 x 13-inch pan.
- Bake at 350°F for 50 minutes.
For the frosting:
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan.
- Add the brown sugar and bring to a boil (about 2 minuteand continue cooking until it thickens (about 1 minute more)
- Let set for 15 minutes.
- Mix in hot milk, vanilla and gradually whisk in the confectioner's sugar. If the frosting becomes too thick, add a little milk.
- Quickly spread the frosting on the cake. Once the frosting cools, it will become harder with an almost fudge-like texture.
Notes
Nutrition
THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR THIS NON-PUMPKIN RECIPE!!!
Your cake looks so moist! I love fall cooking and baking… There are so many apples in the basket at the moment begging to become this cake!
I enjoyed following along on your trip. It looked amazing!!
What a wonderful cake. I have a recipe similar to this but not with that decadent frosting. must try!
What a lovely cake. That frosting sounds delicious!