Cardamom Applesauce Cake

Two out of three boys are back in school. Aaron has been back for a few months now. One interesting element of being back in school is school lunches. 

Aaron is fed lunch at school, and frequently sent home with a bag of food to eat over the weekend. The food is surprisingly good and well balanced, but we have been introduced to a few items that we don't usually have in our pantry, individual applesauce cups being one. I saw all these apple sauce cups and remembered this Martha Stewart recipe that I had enjoyed previously. We tried it with the applesauce cups, mixed with some chopped apples and it was an instant hit. We also up the spices because we like it spicy in the Riddlehaus. This cake is a great dessert, but it also works beautifully toasted for breakfast.

Cardamom Apple Sauce Cake 

Ingredients

Ingredient Checklist

• 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups chunky applesauce (I also mix smooth apple sauce with chopped fresh apples)
• Nonstick cooking spray
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions

Instructions Checklist

• Step 1

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cardamom. Set aside.

• Step 2

  In another bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, and honey until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat just until combined. Beat in applesauce.

• Step 3

  Generously coat a nonstick 9-inch tube pan with cooking spray. Spoon batter into pan; smooth top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (but slightly wet), 50 to 60 minutes.

• Step 4

  Cool on a wire rack 10 minutes. Turn out of pan onto a cutting board or baking sheet; invert cake onto rack, top side up. Cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving, if desired.