Applesauce Spice Cake Recipe With Sourdough Discard
One of my favorite memories growing up was the excitement I felt when my mom would make applesauce cake. Now with my own family, I like to make this same cake for them, with the fun addition of my beloved sourdough. This spiced applesauce cake is one of my family’s favorite cakes now, as well! It is such a flavorful, moist applesauce cake recipe! It’s great for an afternoon snack, a delicious dessert, and we may have it for breakfast every now and then, too! My Applesauce Spice Cake Recipe with Sourdough Discard will be a treat the whole family will enjoy!
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What is Applesauce Spice Cake Recipe with Sourdough Discard?
Applesauce Cake has been a popular dessert since Colonial Times but gained popularity during World War I. It was even considered a Patriotic dessert. The ingredients were mostly readily available and affordable even during food shortages. When flour became scarce they often substituted cornmeal or oats. This amazing cake is still popular today and I think we should make it known as patriotic cake again!
Ingredients you’ll need for this recipe
Tools you may need:
What Kind Of Applesauce Should You Use For This Recipe?
There are of course lots of premade applesauce options at the grocery stores, but if you have time and desire I personally love making homemade applesauce! It’s super easy to do and boy does it make your house smell amazing! Just peel and slice up 6 apples and place them in a medium saucepan. I like to cut my apple slices thin (about 1/4 inch thick) to help it cook down quicker. Add water, sugar, and cinnamon to the apples. Stir to combine and cook on medium heat. Let the apples cook down until softened. At this point, you can either mash up the apples with a wooden spoon and leave the applesauce chunky or use an immersion blender or blender to puree the apples. Let the applesauce cool before adding to the recipe.
My favorite immersion blender. (I have an older version.)
Why Add Sourdough Discard In Your Baking?
Sourdough discard is a great source of probiotics and is great for your gut! I love incorporating sourdough into as much of my baking as possible. It’s a delicious way to use up any extra discard. If you are feeding your own sourdough starter every day (sometimes twice a day) like I do, you may have a lot of sourdough starter discard. Don’t actually “discard” it! Quick recipes like this are a great way to use leftover sourdough discard. It adds such great flavor and fluffy texture!
Did you know?
June 6th is National Applesauce Cake Day!
How to Make Applesauce Spice Cake Recipe with Sourdough Discard
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 9×13 baking dish. An easy way to prepare the pan would be to use nonstick baking spray. I personally don’t like stuff like Pam, but I have used a spritz of olive oil. Or you can use butter and a dusting of flour to prepare the pan.
- In a large bowl add room temperature butter and sugars. Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to blend together.
- Add eggs and vanilla; blend into the butter and sugar.
- Mix in sourdough discard and either store-bought applesauce or your homemade applesauce.
- Now it’s time to add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and all the spices. Blend just until combined.
- Pour into the prepared baking pan – 9×13 pan.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. This is a very moist cake, so it can have crumbs on the toothpick, but it should not be wet when it is done.
- Let the applesauce cake cool completely on a wire rack. I like to keep it simple with this old-fashioned applesauce cake and give the top of the cake a light dusting of powdered sugar, but you can go ahead and frost the cake instead at this point. Enjoy!!
Find the measurements and full recipe below!
Jump to Recipe
Applesauce Spice Cake Recipe with Sourdough Discard
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sourdough discard
- 1 1/2 cups applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves
Homemade Applesauce
- 6 apples sliced thin
- 1 cup water
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 9×13 baking dish. An easy way to prepare the pan would be to use nonstick baking spray. I personally don't like stuff like Pam, but I have used a spritz of olive oil. Or you can use butter and a dusting of flour to prepare the pan.
- In a large bowl add room-temperature butter and sugars. Use a hand mixer or stand mixer to blend together.
- Add eggs and vanilla; blend into the butter and sugar.
- Mix in sourdough discard and either store-bought applesauce or your homemade applesauce.
- Now it's time to add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and all the spices. Blend just until combine.
- Pour into the prepared baking pan – 9×13 pan.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. This is a very moist cake, so it can have crumbs on the toothpick, but it should not be wet.
- Let the applesauce cake cool on a wire rack. After the cake has cooled I like to dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar. I like to keep it simple with this old-fashioned applesauce cake, but you can go ahead and frost the cake instead at this point. Enjoy!!
Notes
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