Applesauce Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

This recipe for Applesauce Cake with Brown Butter Glaze features an update with a nutty buttery glaze. Applesauce cake is a spectacular option for savoring alongside a cup of coffee or tea for breakfast and dessert any time of day.

Applesauce Cake with Brown Butter Glaze for Brunch or Dessert

This homemade applesauce cake is a double duty kind of dessert. It can literally be served for breakfast like a coffee cake, for brunch, tea time or as a sweet ending to your meal. Classic additions to the batter include raisins and toasted nuts such as walnuts or pecans with a warm spice blend to season the batter.

Helpful Tips for Making Applesauce Cake

• You can use plain or cinnamon spiced applesauce for this cake.
• I highly recommend baking this cake in a tube pan, also called an angel food pan, to give it plenty of room to expand while baking.
• This cake freezes beautifully. You can freeze it glazed, or wait and drizzle with brown butter glaze after thawing.
• The nutty sweet brown butter glaze is what sets this applesauce cake apart. That said, you can enjoy this cake with a simple dusting of powdered sugar, too.
• Traditional applesauce cake often includes raisins. You can add 1 cup of  raisins to the batter along with the pecans with no other adjustments needed.
• Toasted walnuts can be substituted in place of pecans.
• When browning the butter for the glaze, the milk solids left behind will turn dark. Be careful, or the butter will burn if not attended. When pouring it into the mixing bowl, leave as much dark sediment behind in the pot as possible. Please note, some darker flecks may slip through. I actually like this but, if it bothers you, strain the butter through a fine mesh sieve to remove.

Other Apple Recipes to Make

The warm spicy seasonings that usually accompany apple recipes are the kind  that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Other apple recipes you may enjoy trying:

• Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls
• Apple Baked Oatmeal
• Harvest Apple Bread
• You may also like this recipe for Delightfully Baked Apples from Skinnytaste

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Helpful Kitchen Items:

• 10-inch Angel Food Pan with Removable Bottom
• Stand Mixer
• Wooden Cake Pedestal
• Silicone Spatulas

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Applesauce Cake

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time1 hr 30 mins

Cooling time4 hrs

Total Time5 hrs 50 mins

Course: Cake, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: applesauce-cake, applesauce-cake-recipe

Servings: 16 pieces

Calories: 565kcal

Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cup roughly chopped pecans toasted and divided
• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 2 ½ cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 ½ cups applesauce
• Brown Butter Glaze:
• ½ cup salted butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1-3 tablespoon half and half or cream plus additional as needed

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast for 6-8 minutes until fragrant then set aside to cool. Lower oven temperature to 325°F.
• Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes or until fully combined.
• Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
• In a separate medium size mixing bowl, use a whisk to sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cloves and nutmeg.
• Lower the speed of the mixer and add dry ingredients alternately with applesauce beginning and ending with flour. Mix until fully combined. Add 1 cup pecans, mixing in by hand.
• Butter and flour a 10 inch Tube pan (Angel food cake pan) with baking spray.
• Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake in center of oven for 1hr 20 minutes - 1hr 30 minutes. Check at 45 minutes and lay foil on top to prevent over browning. Continue to bake until a toothpick inserted into the center shows moist crumbs.
• Remove from oven and cool in pan for 20 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
• Brown Butter Glaze: Melt butter over medium-low heat in a heavy bottomed saucepan. simmer for 5-10 minutes until amber in color. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl leaving as much of browned sediment behind as possible. (You can also strain through a fine mesh sieve) Add powdered sugar and vanilla to the mixing bowl, whisking or beating with an electric mixer until combined. Add half and half 1 tablespoon at a time until drizzle consistency.
• Drizzle glaze over cooled cake and garnish with reserved ¼ cup pecans. Store chilled in an airtight container.

Notes

• Traditional applesauce cake often includes raisins. You can add 1 cup of  raisins to the batter along with the pecans with no other adjustments needed.
• When browning the butter for the glaze, the milk solids left behind will turn dark. Be careful, or the butter will burn if not attended. When pouring it into the mixing bowl, leave as much dark sediment behind in the pot as possible. Please note, some darker flecks may slip through. I actually like this but, if it bothers you, strain the butter through a fine mesh sieve to remove.

Nutrition

Serving: 1piece | Calories: 565kcal | Carbohydrates: 83g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 81mg | Sodium: 352mg | Potassium: 154mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 57g | Vitamin A: 603IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 2mg

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