By: Valerie
Cakes and Cupcakes, ,

Pecan-Topped Applesauce Coffee Cake

Yield: one 9-inch coffee cake
Recipe: 104/200
“Back to Baking”, pp. 215

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     I have always loved Fall since I can remember. The beautiful leaves changing colours, the cooler weather, the sweaters, comforting soups and hot chocolates. But most of all, I love the apple season, especially apple-picking. For a record this year we went apple-picking three times! We probably picked a total of 50 pounds of apples, so needless to say I had plenty of apples to choose from to make a nice apple recipe. I thought that this apple and pecan cake recipe looked perfect to use some nice apples that were going soft. Although the apple flavour was more subtle than I was expecting, the coffee cake was good and very moist. The topping was a nice combination of sweet and crunchy. Definitely I nice cake to have with coffee, tea or hot chocolate!

Ingredients for cake:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 ½ cups unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar
  • ½ cup oil
  • 2 Â˝ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground allspice
  • ÂĽ teaspoon ground cloves

Ingredients for topping:

  • ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
  • ÂĽ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup chopped pecan pieces
  • 1 peeled apple, coarsely grated

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Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs just to blend.
  3. Whisk in the applesauce, brown sugar and oil until smooth.
  4. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Stir this into the applesauce mixture until evenly combined.
  5. Scrape the batter into the springform pan and prepare the topping.
  6. To prepare the topping, stir together the brown sugar, butter and cinnamon, then stir in the pecans and the grated apple. Spread this over the cake batter.
  7. Bake for 60-70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake to room temperature, then remove the cake from the pan before serving.

Note:

  • If you wish you can easily make the unsweetened applesauce yourself instead of buying it. To do so, simply place in a pot 3 pound of peeled, sliced and cored apples, Â˝ cup of water and Â˝ teaspoon ground cinnamon. Set to medium heat, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the apples are soft. Use a potato masher or immersion blender to puree the apples. Let cool and voilĂ ! Homemade unsweetened applesauce. Recipe from Life Made Simple.

Valerie