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Applesauce Spice Cake Recipe with Sourdough Discard

This spiced applesauce cake is one of my family's favorite cakes! 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!
Print Recipe
A slice of Applesauce Spice Cake on white plate with cake behind it.
Cook Time:35 minutes

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 9x13 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 - 9x13 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

If you are making your own applesauce, cut up about 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, about 30 minutes. At this point, you can either leave the applesauce chunky or use an immersion blender or blender to puree the apples. Let the applesauce cool while you are getting ready to assemble the applesauce cake.