The traditional gingerbread recipe can be easily replaced with this one. The texture of the cookies is delicate, and the flavor is not fiery or acrid. Every holiday season, my family has done it as a family custom.
| Servings: | 18 |
| Yield: | 1 to 13 – x inch cake |
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ¾ cups white sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 ½ cups applesauce
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Sift flour, white sugar, soda, salt, baking powder, and spices into a large mixing bowl. Mix in 1/2 cup butter or margarine, buttermilk, and applesauce. Beat for 2 minutes with an electric mixer on medium speed. Beat in eggs. Fold in 3/4 cup chopped nuts. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9 x 13 inch pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 50 minutes.
- Mix confectioners’ sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla until smooth. Melt 1/4 cup butter over medium heat, and add 1 cup chopped pecans. Keep stirring until browned. Stir cooled pecans into cream cheese mixture. Frost the cooled cake.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 448 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 64 g |
| Cholesterol | 55 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 258 mg |
| Sugars | 49 g |
| Fat | 20 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
this is absolutely delicious
I liked it but I will try it next time with a little less sugar and with canola oil (I didn’t have any and you can taste the oil I used) and maybe a little less too.
Very yummy! Thanks for posting!
Had to cut the recipe in half, came out great. Baked it in an 8×8 inch square pan, 330 degrees convection oven, for 40 minutes. Perfect! I think it would be about 45 minutes at 350 in a regular oven. I will be making this again.
I love this cake easy to make
I made this for first time. Wanted a nice fall spiced cake for neighbors. It came out delicious. Very easy to make. Will make again. Reminded me of a cake from my childhood.
Taste fantastic but on the druy side. I a baker and never seen a cake recipe where you don’t cream the butter and sugar before adding the rest ingredients. I’m going to do that next time and bake like 35 minutes instead of 40. Hopefully that will moisten the cake
This recipe is soo beyond easy. I DO use a sifter, and sift all dry ingredients, I use lemon or lime juice to make buttermilk. I make the recipe exactly as it is written. But sometimes I fold in crushed glazed pecans, or a few brown bananas, or butterscotch chips, whatever is around. I only bundt pan this cake, and dust with powdered sugar after flipping out while still warm. Great, moist, dense cake, not too sweet. Just, delicious. All the girls at the office love this
I had a lot of unsweetened applesauce to use up, and found this recipe. I added 1 tsp of vanilla to the batter, but otherwise didn’t change a thing. Very moist and great flavor. I baked it in a bundt pan and made a thin Maple Cream cheese icing which I drizzled over the cake. The kiddos really loved it!
This recipe is fantastic! I added extra cinnamon, some ground ginger and cloves, and raisins.
I followed the recommendations of others and only added one cup of sugar and made my own applesauce. I even ground my own spices. But this was rather bland and could have used more spice. It tasted like a muffin or bread, not a cake. I could not even taste the amazing applesauce That was my inspiration. Also, make sure to follow the recipe exactly. This recipe is NOT ‘no-fail’!! Cream the butter and sugar before adding the eggs. I accidentally mixed them in early and ended up overbeating the batter so it was chewy. Also, if you are using a Bundt pan, double the recipe to make a full Bundt ‘cake’ as it does not rise much. And make sure to use a toothpick to test doneness in the middle because mine looked cooked and was springy to the touch but ended up underdone. I would make this again as a bread or muffins or add the full sugar for a cake. I drizzled confectioner’s glaze on mine and sprinkled chopped walnuts on top (didn’t put nuts in the cake) but they would be good in the cake. The less sweet cake would probably be perfect if you added the cream cheese icing. I am a very experienced baker and I found this cake disappointing.
I needed a way to use up some applesauce that was just taking up space, and happened upon this recipe. I’m very glad I did. I didn’t use the frosting because I have people in the house who can’t tolerate cream cheese, so I used a caramel frosting instead. I also subbed the walnuts for pecans because that was what I had. Great recipe!
Good recipe, made with Gluten free flour, reduced the sugar as the reviews said. Baked in a 9×13 glass pan at 24mins . Cake had a great taste and moist, cooking any longer it would have been very dry. Good recipe will be making the cake again
Really good. I did make a few changes: added 1 cup raisins; 1/2 cup cocoa; 1/2 cup coconut; 1 cup cinnamon chips; and a little nutmeg. Also I did not frost, with the addition of the cinnamon chips it did not need anything else.
Try these tweaks for less sugar and oil: 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour, 2/3 cup cake flour , 1 tsp each baking soda and powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1/2 tsp allspice. 1/3 cup canola oil, 1/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup plain yogurt, 2 eggs. 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce. The cake flour gives it better rise. Excellent flavor and texture. 9×9 oiled and floured glass dish. Baked about 45 minutes. Turn halfway through and check frequently after 40 minutes. Click on my name for picture of cake. Bon appetite!
The only thing I did differently is kept the nuts out (family preference) and substituted 1 cup of whole wheat flour in the 2.5 cups of flour. Turned out fabulous, and easy recipe. It’s a keeper!
I loved this cake. The only change I made was to add 1 stick of softened butter to the icing. Made for more of a softened finish.
I changed the spices just a bit and I only used 1 1/3 C. sugar. 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. ginger 1/2 tsp. ground cloves no allspice I didn’t frost it because we ate it warm with whipped cream. Ice cream is also really good with it.
I only baked 40 minutes as I have a fast oven. I think Raisins would be good as I don;t like Walnuts. I would definitely make it again. The family loved it.
Followed the recipe but omitted the nuts. Just wanted a spice cake. Turned out very good. My guy LOVED it and refuses to let it go to waste. He’s eaten a piece every night since I made it. Nice cake!
Family loved it. Will be a go to cake for sure.