Applesauce Spice Cake With Maple Glaze Recipe

Perfectly sweet and delicately spiced, this applesauce spice cake with maple glaze makes for a great breakfast, dessert, or snack option. In fact, there's no bad time to enjoy this sweet treat. Though the finished loaf, beautifully adorned with that sweet maple glaze, looks like something you might find in a bakery, this recipe is actually a rather simple one to whip up — just ask recipe developer Deniz Vergara. "My favorite thing about this cake is how easy it is to make," she says. "It is so tender and moist at the same time."

Somewhat similar to a loaf of banana bread, this cake highlights another type of fruit — apples — both thanks to its inclusion of applesauce and classic apple pie spice. Pecans add a crunchy contrast to the otherwise soft and moist baked good, while the glaze, as Vergara says, "really takes it to the next level (without much effort!)" And, thanks to that glaze, you can enjoy a slice of this cake without needing to add anything else to it, like a slather of butter or a drizzle of honey. Just bake and glaze, then you've got a delightful treat that will keep well in an airtight container for half of the week.

For the apple spice cake itself, you'll need all-purpose flour, apple pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, unsweetened applesauce, an egg, safflower oil, both granulated and light brown sugars, vanilla extract, almond extract, and chopped pecans. As for the maple glaze, you'll need salted butter, maple syrup, powdered sugar, a bit more of both extracts, and heavy cream.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Lightly grease a loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, apple pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together applesauce, egg, safflower oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract until smooth.

Add applesauce mixture and chopped pecans to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix just until combined. (Do not overmix.)

Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and spread out evenly.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top springs back lightly to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

While the cake cools in the pan, make the glaze: In a small pot set over medium-low heat, whisk butter and maple syrup until smooth.

Sift in the powdered sugar and whisk again.

Remove the mixture from heat and whisk in the almond and vanilla extracts and 1 tablespoon heavy cream until smooth. (If the glaze seems too thick, add 1 more tablespoon heavy cream a little bit at a time.)

To serve, transfer the cooled cake to a plate, drizzle with glaze, and allow glaze to set for a few minutes before slicing.

Depending on what you keep stocked in your pantry or your personal preferences, you might be inclined to make a few changes to this applesauce cake. Luckily, as Vergara tells us, there is plenty of room for ingredient swaps. While Vergara tends to favor coconut oil in her cooking, here she went for an option that wouldn't alter the flavor of the cake. "I didn't want any hints of coconut, so I went with something more neutral, but any vegetable oil will work," she says.

As for the spice aspect of the recipe, apple pie spice makes for a catch-all option that packs in a lot of flavors from one single spice blend — but what if you don't have apple pie spice in your repertoire? "If you don't have apple pie spice, you can use a combination of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves," Vergara tells us, also noting that cinnamon is the most important flavor component here: "If you only have cinnamon, you can absolutely just use that."

Fruit is no stranger to cakes and loaves, though applesauce may not be the first thing you think to toss into your batter. Nonetheless, applesauce works well in a cake, adding both flavor and texture to the baked good. "Applesauce gives a mild apple note to the cake, but it does more than just add flavor," Vergara explains, noting that the ingredient also "makes the cake moist due to its high water content." She also notes that applesauce helps hold the batter together and, as a final perk, "It also allows for less butter or oil needed in a recipe!"

Since applesauce does influence the flavor of this cake, Vergara opts for the unsweetened kind so as not to go overboard on the sugar, especially since you will be adding more sugar and topping the whole thing off with a sweet glaze. That said, she assures us that "if you are in a pinch and only have sweetened applesauce on hand, it won't ruin the recipe," but your cake will end up extra sweet. Finally, for the spice lovers out there, Vergara tells us that you could absolutely use a cinnamon applesauce for extra cinnamon flavor.