Applesauce Harvest Cake With Caramel Icing

By Christy Rost

Applesauce Harvest Cake with Caramel Icing is the perfect finale for Thanksgiving dinner. Cinnamon, cloves, and freshly grated nutmeg flavor this tender applesauce cake, topped with caramel icing and chopped pecans.

Ingredients:

1cup unsalted butter, softened
1cup granulated sugar
¾cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 ¾cups flour
2teaspoons baking powder
¾teaspoon salt
½teaspoon baking soda
1 ½teaspoons cinnamon
1teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼teaspoon ground cloves
1cup natural applesauce (no sugar added)
¼cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars until mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs and beat until thoroughly mixed; set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with applesauce and milk; the batter will be thick.

Line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Pour batter evenly into the pans and bake in a preheated oven 35 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven, cool 10 minutes, and turn them out on a wire rack to cool completely. When the cakes are cool, frost with Caramel Icing.

Caramel Icing:

¾cup unsalted butter
1cup dark brown sugar, packed
114-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
dash of salt
7cups confectioners sugar
1 ½teaspoons vanilla

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter with brown sugar and stir in the sweetened condensed milk and salt. Remove it from the heat and set aside 5 minutes to cool.

Pour the mixture into a large, heat-proof bowl and gradually beat in confectioners sugar with an electric mixer; stir in vanilla. Set the icing aside 20 to 30 minutes until it is cool and thick. Stir it with a spoon until smooth and spread on the cake.

Recipe makes one 9-inch 2-layer cake.