Applesauce Cake — The Warmth I Needed After a Week of Tiny Pumpkin Costumes

Halloween. Caleb is two and a half months old and is not, this year, trick-or-treating. This is fine. He has many Halloweens ahead of him and this one was observed by his parents putting him in a small pumpkin outfit and photographing him, which I have seen because CJ sent seventeen photographs of the same fifteen-minute period in various angles. I have saved all seventeen.

I made a jack-o-lantern cake for Bernice's Table this week — not for Halloween specifically but because I had excess carved pumpkin from the decorating and pumpkin is good in cake, which Bernice always said and which is true. A spiced pumpkin layer cake with cream cheese frosting, orange on the outside, warm and dark on the inside. The Bernice's Table crowd received it with the appreciation that cream cheese frosting tends to receive, which is enthusiastic and immediate.

November is approaching. I am beginning the Thanksgiving planning in earnest because this Thanksgiving is different from all previous Thanksgivings: Caleb will be at the table. Not eating the food — he is not eating solids yet — but physically at the table, in the carrier or on someone's lap, present for his first Thanksgiving, present in this house for the first time at this particular holiday. I have been thinking about what grace I will say. The list of names to be grateful for keeps growing. I will need to be more organized about it than previous years. Or I will just go long, which is also acceptable. Nobody at my Thanksgiving table has ever complained about a long grace.

The pumpkin cake I made for Bernice’s Table this week got me thinking about all the other warmly spiced cakes that belong to this time of year — the ones that smell like autumn and taste like something your grandmother would have made on a Sunday. This applesauce cake is exactly that: deeply moist, full of warm spice, and finished with the cream cheese frosting that the Bernice’s Table crowd loves so unreservedly. With Thanksgiving and a table newly graced with Caleb’s presence on the horizon, it felt like the right recipe to write down and keep close.

Applesauce Cake

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Cream Cheese Frosting:
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat and prepare. Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Whisk dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter with the granulated and brown sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs and wet ingredients. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla extract and applesauce until just combined. The batter may look slightly curdled — that is fine.
5. Combine and fold. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two additions, folding gently with a spatula until no streaks of flour remain. Do not overmix.
6. Bake. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Cool completely. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely before frosting.
8. Make the frosting. Beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy. Reduce speed to low and add the sifted powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt, then beat on medium-high until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
9. Frost and serve. Place one cake layer on a plate or stand and spread a generous layer of cream cheese frosting over the top. Set the second layer on top and frost the top and sides. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 62g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 310mg