Applesauce Cake With Cream Cheese and Honey Frosting Recipe (2024)

Made this as the cake for apple upside down cake in a skillet, 11inch. Sautéed diced apples and chopped candied ginger with butter and demerera sugar. Poured this over it and baked. Delicious.

Amending my comment because the cake improved hugely after being in the refrigerator overnight (the frosting must be refrigerated). The spices became more noticeable and some of the moisture from the frosting moved into the cake. I still think it needs more oomph in the flavor profile, but I am now more impressed with the recipe than I was the day I made this.

I’ve now made this with both yogurt and buttermilk. The texture, crumb and flavor were better with the buttermilk (I think the cake rose too much with the yogurt). Better, too, with chopped walnuts added. I topped the frosting with small-diced crystallized ginger, which brightened the flavor considerably. Next tweak I’m going to try is subbing in a jar of chunky apple pulp I have on the shelf, for the applesauce.

Used maple syrup instead of honey and added toasted pecans to frosting. The pecans were a hit.The flavor of the spices became more pronounced after several hours, cake tasted way too blend at first. Oh how I wish I had read all the comments, indeed, way too much salt!

That 1.5 teaspoon amount is for kosher salt. The equivalent for table salt or sea salt is 1 teaspoon. I used 1 teaspoon of sea salt and the salt level was fine.

Being so not a fan of cream cheese I am going to make the frosting with Mascarpone cheese which I think will be sublime.(I use Mascarpone for Lox and Bagels as well(!)

Recipe calls for *kosher* salt. One and a half teaspoons kosher salt is one teaspoon table or sea salt.

Because of complaints about blandness and because we didn’t have enough ginger, i added 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond extract. I think it might just give the cake a rounder flavor. I agree that the salt can be cut down a bit (I used kosher and went a touch under 1.5 tsp; next time I’ll do 1 tsp). Next time I’ll try a mixture of brown sugar for the caramel flavor and a bit of sugar in the rough for some crunch.

I made this cake today and true to its word, it’s very simple to make. The texture is moist, but the flavor profile, I agree needs some oomph! The honey cream cheese frosting still needs a bit of sugar, I think. If I were to make it again, I might add more spices (maybe nutmeg, allspice) and some chopped walnuts for added texture and taste. Having said that, my husband loved it though!

Your cream cheese may have been too cold. I always beat the cream cheese by itself first, and then add the other ingredients.

This was very bland, even with so much spice! And possibly overbaked (would recommend checking at 35 minutes and testing at 40). It would certainly benefit from the addition of walnuts, but I think it would work well with candied ginger, too. If I make it again I will split it into two layers and make more frosting for the middle. The sticky frosting could use something, too. Maybe lemon or orange zest? Good template, but needs tweaking.

This cake was very good. I used full fat plain yogurt and checked it after 30 per comments about cooking time being too long. It was done after 40 mins. I added golden raisins, chopped crystallized ginger, and pecans straight into the batter at the end. After the cake cooled, I glazed it with a simple Rosewater icing but I can see leaving it off to have more as a breakfast or snack cake. It was moist and delicious. Will make again.

Made this as written and it was definitely easy. Tasty cake but not spectacular, though frosting was very nice. Baking time as stated would definitely be too long for my oven at least - I baked for 40-ish minutes and it was still a tad overdone.

Has anyone tried to make this gluten free? I want to attempt for a gf family member this thanksgiving and would love any feedback!

Based on the comments, I did increase the spices with a little clove and grated nutmeg and used dark brown sugar in addition to cane sugar. Plus sultanas soaked in Cognac. Because you can never find the Armagnac when you need it. Overall a good (meaning repeatable) recipe but maybe 2 tsp baking soda is too much.

The salt was a borderline disaster. 1 1/2 tsp sounded like too much, so I used 3/4 tsp, it was almost too much. Next time, 1/2 tsp. With the number of people who have commented about the salt maybe the author would make a correction so people don't waste ingredients making a salty cake?... I used a pinch of ground cloves in the dry ingredients, fresh ginger in the wet ingredients, a splash of vanilla and 'buttermilk' made with oatmilk & lemon. Frosting with only cream cheese, honey & maple syrup

When I saw only half cup sugar I thought for my particle taste that’s not enough sugar so I used muscleman’s cinnamon applesauce . I also only had to bake it 40 mins. I love this cake it’s right up my alley. I had to add some confection sugar to tighten the icing a bit since I used the whole 8 oz package of cream cheese. Had some leftover which never goes to waste.

Loved the texture but hated the taste! Way too salty and I couldn’t taste any spices. All I tasted was salt. After we ate it once, I binned the rest. Yuck!

I would even go so far as to say that sliced through the middle, this cake would vibe great with cooked apples or another fruit or jam or caramel and nuts in addition to the frosting.

Very simple and very tasty. I added clove and used up some homemade apple butter. I used mascarpone instead of cream cheese. I’m not trying to be one of those just to say these are fairly minor adjustments and you can easily adjust to your preferences with this recipe ie spices and sweetness.

To those feeling like this is bland: yes spice it up (almond and vanilla extract, more spices), but also after it cools, throw it in the fridge and eat cold! Such a good cold cake!

This recipe has potential, but I won’t be making it again as written. First of all, the amount of kosher salt was far too great. Luckily I tasted the batter before baking, because it was noticeably salty. I added close to another 1/2 cup of sugar to temper the saltiness. Upon baking, the cake still tasted salty to some folks and was overall quite bland. I think with some adjustments, this recipe would make a nice iced loaf for breakfast.

I made this cake and it baked up beautifully. It was lovely and moist. The only problem I had is that it had absolutely no flavor. And there was way too much salt as far as I was concerned. If I made it again, I would maybe have one or a half teaspoon of salt. Instead of one and a half teaspoons of salt. I’d to add more spices like a bit of nutmeg and cloves. Perhaps some raisins or nuts. Not my favourite cake. I tried it the next day with dulce de Leche on top. I ended up throwing it out.

I checked it at 45 minutes which I thought was too much time. It was done, but next time, I'll check it after 40 minutes. As for the frosting, next time, I will use the whole 8 oz. package of cream cheese.

I love Julia Turshen, I do, but this cake is bland, not sweet enough, and honestly too moist. Not a fan, would not make again.

My family and I really liked this cake. Like other reviewers, I found it to be completely baked at 35 minutes and to taste even better on its second day. I added a couple of hands full of dried cranberries and some chopped walnuts to the cake batter and added chopped crystallized ginger to the frosting. Delicious!

Read the comments and made this cake for an ill neighbor and her little kids with whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and added raisins and 1/2T of nutmeg. Made an incredible icing with mascarpone, maple syrup, and 1/3 cup of confectioners' sugar. Excited to share this with them.

That frosting was sloppy. I probably added 2 cups of confectioners’ sugar.

Topped with this glaze, delicious:1 cup powdered sugar, more if needed1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon1 tablespoon very soft butter1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla1⁄4 cup good maple syrup, more if needed

The frosting is the best part of this recipe--it tastes great! I thought the cake was too dry/spongy, too thick, and devoid of apple flavor despite the large quantity of homemade Gravenstein applesauce that went into the making of it!For anyone who hasn't tried it yet or is looking to improve it, I'd suggest switching to a 9" square pan. That would make a thinner cake that would bake faster and provide more frosting surface!