My mother and grandmother made all things apple. Pans of applesauce simmered while apple pie, Dutch apple cake and applesauce cake baked. The fall just isn’t fall for me unless there are apples cooking and the kitchen is filled with the aromas of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
I think these spicy aromas are what gave fertile ground for my love of gingerbread. Mom never baked gingerbread, but now that fall is here, I dream of baking gingerbread – fresh gingerbread cookies and soft, warm gingerbread right out of the oven.
All of these food memories are stirred together into this one delightful cake. Applesauce, molasses, buttermilk, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and, wait, is that pepper? Yes, pepper in gingerbread is a fun, tasty, very traditional twist. Old-fashioned goodness, glazed with caramel and baked in a Bundt pan. Fall is officially here.
Applesauce Gingerbread Cake with Caramel Glaze
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup sweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
Caramel Glaze
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons heavy or whipping cream
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 12-cup fluted tube
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, soda, ginger, cloves, salt and pepper. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and brown sugar. Beat in eggs, molasses, applesauce and vanilla.
Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, making two additions of buttermilk and three of flour mixture. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a pick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Invert cake onto wire rack and allow to cool.
For Caramel Glaze: Stir together butter, brown sugar and milk in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring frequently, until boiling. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool 5 minutes. Drizzle caramel drizzle over cake.
Makes 1 cake
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