Applesauce Cake & Stress

I am still swimming in applesauce over here, so what better to make than an applesauce cake. If this doesn’t say “Fall”, then I don’t know what does. The cake is moist and is paired with a maple frosting that totally makes the cake.

Here is a picture of the cake, frosted, a little messy. I almost forgot to take a picture I was so excited to eat it! LOL!

This cake is very easy to make. I used Pamela’s Baking Mix, but you could use any combo of GF flours or even regular, all-purpose flour if you don’t have to eat GF. I think the most time consuming part is the frosting. The frosting is very sticky and wanted to create a bunch of crumbs on my cake. I had a long, stressful day and was not feeling the love when I frosted the cake, so I really didn’t care. I just wanted to eat it! LOL! Maybe a tsp or 2 of milk or water in the frosting will help smooth it out. I also left the nuts out b/c I ran out and my kids aren’t wild about them.

Applesauce Cake

Applesauce Cake

2 1/2cups all-purpose flour (I used Pamela’s. Don’t forget to add Xanthan Gum if you are making this GF and your mix doesn’t have Xanthan gum or guar gum in it).
1 ½ cups applesauce (unsweetened, but I am using sweetened)
1 ¼ cups sugar
½ cup stick butter, softened
½ cup water
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice (if you don’t have this, use this site for subs)
1 tsp salt
¾ tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1 cup raisins (I leave these out b/c my kids won’t touch the cake with them in it; may add chocolate chips instead)
2/3 cup chopped nuts
Maple-Nut Buttercream Frosting or Cream Cheese Frosting if you want instead.

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottoms & sides of 13 x 9 x 2 pan or 2 round pans, with shortening; lightly flour.
2. Beat all ingredients except raisins, nuts and Frosting in a large bowl with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in raisins & nuts. Pour into pan(s).
3. Bake rectangle for 45 – 50 minutes, rounds 40 to 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool rectangle pan on wire rack. Cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
4. Frost rectangle or fill and frost layers with Maple Nut Frosting.

Maple Nut Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup stick butter, softened
½ cup maple flavored syrup
¼ cup finely chopped nuts

1. Mix sugar and butter in medium bowl. Stir in syrup.
2. Beat until smooth & spreadable. Stir in nuts.
3. Frosts one rectangle cake or fills and frosts one 8 or 9 inch layer cake.

So, last week I had posted about baking being a stress reliever for me. I think I may want to revise that statment. The baking itself is relaxing for me. The clean-up, not so much. Since my baking spree began a few weeks back, I have done more loads of dishes than I care to count. Last night was the final straw. I just simply couldn’t do any more. I am taking a hiatus from baking at least through the weekend so that I can concentrate on some other stresses that I have going on right now. Yes, I will still cook our meals, but the added disasters I was creating need to come to an end for the short time being. I think my new goal will be to aim for only 1 baked good per week. That doesn’t count our bread b/c it goes in the breadmaker and really doesn’t make much of a mess. Also, Jon and I go through a loaf in a week, easily. Especially with his new found love of Cinnamon-Sugar Toast in the AM.