Whipped sweet cream applesauce cake with ginger brandy soaked cranberries spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. Baked with a caramelized apple and pecan topping, drizzled with a simple powdered sugar glaze.
When the cold weather starts to kick in the first thing on the agenda for me is hot cider, stews, soups and my personal winter favorite applesauce cake. Applesauce cake is just that! A cake with applesauce. The applesauce lend its self in more ways than one; first the applesauce is similar to when you make cookies with instant pudding it lends its moisture and makes a softer cake. It also make sure that flavor is distributed evenly and throughout the entire cake. For a lot of apple cake or tarts you just have that thin layer of apple on the top for this cake you get the best of both worlds! That sweet spiced apple flavor throughout and the nice texture of baked apples and pecans on the top. Check out my tips and tricks below for the perfect applesauce cake. Try this recipe out and let me know what you think!
TIPS & TRICKS FOR THE BEST SPICED APPLESAUCE CAKE
don’t use be spiced applesauce: take this into consideration if you’re buying store bought applesauce that can tend to taste artificial and its super easy to spice your own applesauce.
ease up on the allspice: If you ever had a spiced cake, peach cobbler, or banana bread that has a slight bitterness too much allspice is generally the culprit.
you can never have too much cinnamon: i think this one is pretty true i’ve never been overwhelmed by cinnamon no matter how much i’ve put. so if you try your batter and it doesn’t seem spiced enough try adding more cinnamon before anything. nutmeg and allspice have a way of sneaking up once they’ve been warmed up
don’t skip the ginger: this an important one. ginger is one of those things that really rounds out this kind of spiced anything type of recipe. it’s one of those ingredients that plays well with deep loud spices without really exposing itself. its that ingredient that people cant quiet but their finger on so don’t skip this one!
don’t waste the brandy: for this recipe i used ginger brandy since its festive and more on theme. But I know that stuff can be tricky to find once it hits December so regulars brandy is a absolutely suitable alternative. once you remove the cranberries from the ginger don’t toss the brandy out were going to use it on the apple topping!
don’t forget to drop your pan: the key to making a cake with stuff on the bottom that’s to be flipped and presented once out of the oven is to drop your pan. when you finish pouring your cake batter tap the pan on the counter that does two things. first it insures your cake to be leveled once its bakes. also it makes it so the cake batter closest to the apple topping gets in between the apples and pecans and has contact with the bottom of the pan. ensuring that when you flip it everything is still together instead of having a layer of cake and separated topping.
SIMILAR INGREDIENTS TO:
ENJOY THIS RECIPE WITH:
- WHIPPED CREAM
- ICE CREAM
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2c sweet cream butter (1stick, soften)
- 1 1/4c applesauce
- 2c flour
- 2tsp baking powder
- 1/2tsp baking powder
- 2Tb cinnamon
- 1/4tsp allspice
- 1/4tsp Nutmeg
- 1/4tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1Tb vanilla
- 2c brown sugar
- 1/4tsp ground ginger
- 1/3c Dried Cranberries soaked in brandy
- 1/3c Ginger Brandy, regular brandy is fine.
APPLE/ PECAN TOPPING
- 2 Gala Apples cored and sliced, 1 apple per cake
- 8Tb Brown Sugar
- 1//2c Pecans, rough chopped
POWDERED SUGAR GLAZE
- 1/2c Powdered Sugar
- 1Tb Vanilla Extract
- 2-4 Tb Half and Half
DIRECTIONS
- CREAM BUTTER: Cream butter with brown sugar for 1 minutes till incorporated
- ADD EGGS: Add in both eggs, ginger, allspice, cinnamon and salt. Beat for 2 minutes till mixture is pale in color.
- ADD WET: Stir in applesauce.
- ADD DRY: Add in flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
- MIX: Mix only till completely incorporated.
- PREP PANS: Heavily grease your baking pans, Add in a even layer of apples slices, 4Tb brown sugar and 1/4c of Pecans to each pan . With the remaining brandy drizzle equally over each pan.
- ADD BATTER: Add in cake batter to both pans equally. Tap your pans on the counter to even out batter.
- BAKE: Bake cake in preheated 350F oven for 35-40 minutes. Until toothpick comes out clean.
- MAKE GLAZE: To make glaze combine powdered sugar, half and half, and vanilla. If glaze is too thin add more powdered sugar, too thick add more half and half. It should be fluid but not runny.
- COOL CAKE: Cake is cooked and cooled to the touch for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- FLIP CAKES: Flip cakes onto serving platter. Layer one on top of the other.
- GLAZE CAKE: Pour glaze entirely over cooled cake. If cake is too hot glaze will run down the sides.
- ENJOY: Enjoy this cake breakfast, lunch or dinner. Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee and a dollop of whipped cream.