applesauce cake with cream cheese and maple frosting.

September is essentially gone.  Tyler and I spent the majority of it on a most epic road-trip across the Southwest.  It was therapeutic and eye-opening and we came back from the desert to our dog and perfect fall weather and now, all I can think about is apple desserts and pasta bakes.  

I made this applesauce cake last weekend.  I liked that it was one-bowl and had frosting.   I also liked that the author of said recipe was Julia Turshen.  If you don’t know her you should rush out to buy her cookbooks and then follow her on Instagram.   She is a superwoman badass with the most adorable dogs and equally adorable wife.   She spends a lot of her time finding ways to support under-represented chefs and cooks, volunteering at different community organizations, and encouraging people to vote.   Also her food is the kind of simple, no-fuss but really delicious stuff everyone craves (and her recipes always work as written).   Basically she’s my idol.  

This cake is great.  I see myself making it a lot – for impromptu parties or just because it’s Tuesday. The frosting is just the right combination of tangy and sweet.  The cake is impossibly moist.  It’s exactly what you want from a fall dessert.      

Applesauce Cake with Cream Cheese & Maple Frosting

Recipe tweaked ever so slightly from Julia Turshen

The original recipe uses honey in the frosting.  I like honey but I really love maple syrup so you can most certainly guess which I used.  

For the Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp baking soda

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk, kefir, or plain yogurt

1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce (Homemade please!)

1/3 cup canola or other neutral oil

For the Frosting

6 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

2 tbsp sour cream or labneh

1/4 cup maple syrup or honey

Pinch of kosher salt

For the cake:  Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan with baking spray and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Set the pan aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and baking soda. Add the eggs, sugar, buttermilk, applesauce, and oil and whisk gently just until everything is combined. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the batter into the prepared pan and then smooth the surface so it is even.

Bake the cake until it is just barely firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Set the cake aside on a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Use a dinner knife to loosen the edges of the cake from the pan sides and then invert it onto your work surface. Peel off and discard the parchment. Invert the cake one more time onto a serving platter.

For the frosting:  In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, sour cream, honey, and salt and whisk together aggressively until the cream cheese is slightly aerated (you can also do this with a handheld electric mixer or in a stand mixer).

Spread the frosting over the top of the cake and don’t worry too much about making this perfect. I think a not-too-perfect cake is so much better than a perfect cake. Cut into wedges and serve. Leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.