Applesauce Cake 🍎 🍏

This applesauce cake is soft, moist and naturally sweetened with maple syrup. It's loaded with fall spices and topped with a delicious cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients needed:

1 ½ cups all-purpose or white whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup pure maple syrup or honey

¼ cup avocado oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup chopped nuts or raisins optional

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting-

8 oz cream cheese full fat, softened to room temperature

½ cup Greek yogurt I used plain full fat

¼ cup maple syrup

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan or line it with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the unsweetened applesauce, maple syrup or honey, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth and well combined.

3. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring until just combined. Do not overmix.

4. Gently stir in the chopped nuts or raisins if using.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread it evenly. Bake for 22-27 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

6. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

7. While cake is cooling, make cream cheese frosting by adding all ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer on medium speed to whip all the ingredients together until smooth and fluffy (about 5 minutes), scraping down the sides as needed. If your frosting is turning out runny, just keep whipping it and it should turn out thick and fluffy. Alternatively, you can use a stand mixer.

8. Once the cake has cooled, top with cream cheese frosting. Cut into squares and serve.

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