Description
If fall and the holidays could be baked into a cake, this moist and delicious spice cake would be it! The light citrus notes are a beautiful complement to the warm spices and the tangy cream cheese frosting is perfection!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 large orange, zest and juice
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 eggs
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting (see in notes)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 9×13 cake pan.
- Cream the butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Add the apple sauce, sour cream, eggs, orange juice, zest and vanilla and beat until the ingredients are incorporated.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices. Mix until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated into the batter.
- Mix in the pecans.
- Bake in a greased 9×13 pan, for 35-45 minutes at 350°.
- Remove the cake from the oven when the edges have pulled slightly away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cake, in the pan, on a cooling rack.
- When completely cool, frost it with one recipe of Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe in the notes, below) and if desired, sprinkle with a few additional chopped pecans.
Notes
Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe (enough to ice a cake in a 9×13 pan)
In the bowl of your stand mixer beat a softened 8 oz bar of cream cheese, 1 Tablespoon of vanilla, and 1 pound of powdered (confectioners) sugar, until the frosting is smooth and creamy. If the consistency is too thick for you, add 1-3 teaspoons of milk, a teaspoon at a time, until you achieve the desired consistency.
Frost your completely cooled cake.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American