My besties and I had so much fun traveling to Waco for Reese Witherspoon’s debut of her new book Whiskey in a Teacup. The equally adorable and enchanting, Jenna Bush Hager, chatted with Reese on stage in the Silo’s lawn at Magnolia Market. It was just like we were eavesdropping on two girlfriends talking about boys, movies and recipes. Everyone walked away from the evening with a signed copy of her book. We even got to wave to Chip from the window of his office. We also spied baby Crew in his grandmother’s arms, with the older children watching from the rooftop deck. It was definitely a family affair!
I came home that weekend and went to work baking her recipe for Applesauce Cake, and it did not disappoint. I am sure Reese won’t mind that I am sharing her recipe with you.
For the cake:
1 cup (2 sticks of butter), softened
2 cups of sugar
3 cups of applesauce (I used organic cinnamon applesauce)
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg (I didn’t have any so I used apple pie spice)
1 3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup golden raisins (I was tempted to leave these out, but don’t. They are perfect in the cake).
1 cup chopped pecans (feeling daring, substitute with candied pecans)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
For the icing:
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
4 TBL. butter
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat the oven to 325.
To make the cake:
Grease and flour a 9 inch bundt or tube pan (I used Mother’s tube pan). In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the applesauce on low speed. The butter mixture will separate a little from the applesauce, so don’t worry that they don’t mix together completely. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Remove 1/4 cup of the flour mixture and dredge the raisins and pecans in it. Fold the remaining flour mixture slowly into the applesauce mixture until just combined. Add the raisin and pecan mixture along with the vanilla extract and stir together by hand.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 90 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center part of the cake comes out clean. Let cool slightly and remove the cake from the pan, allowing it to cool completely.
To make the brown sugar icing:
In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, cream and butter. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occassonially until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, powdered sugar and salt until smooth. Very quickly pour the icing over the cake, allowing it to spread and drip down the sides to set. The icing sets up very quickly, so it looks best when it is allowed to flow naturally.
Reese suggests making this a day or two before you want to eat it because the cake gets moister with each day. It slices beautifully and honestly if you wanted to leave off the icing and just have it plain it would be just as delicious.
You can watch me icing the cake here . Happy baking!
Hospitality is in my DNA. I founded Home with a Twist, a daughter’s twist on her mother’s traditions, in memory of my mother to celebrate her life and the gifts she shared with me. Mother loved to celebrate life’s occasions – big and small.
That cake was incredible! Thanks for sharing!
I made it from her cookbook, too, and thanks for pinning this. Husband and I agree…icing is basically pecan praline without the pecans. We think the cake stands on its own and the icing is great but kinda overkill
No eggs?
I am highly Allergic to Soy and Eggs. I also do not see Eggs in the Recipe. An Egg Substitute can be Applesauce. Hope this helps
The recipe does not call for eggs. Thanks for visiting my website.
The recipe does not call for eggs. Thank you for visiting my website.
No eggs?
The recipe does not call for eggs.
Hi! Can these be made into muffins? Does the recipe need to be adjusted if so?
I don’t know about making them into muffins, since it’s a cake recipe. But you could certainly try. I don’t think it would impact the taste, just maybe how well they bake in muffin tins. Thank you for stopping by!
Can this be made gluten free?
Hi! I’m not sure but you could give it a try. Thanks for visiting my website.
why do we have to print 10 pages for the recipe why do i need all the comments printed. please make it so we can print only the recipe.
Hi Leah, to avoid printing more pages than just the recipe, you can set the page number for the recipe in your printer settings. Thank you for stopping by my website. Enjoy the cake!
You can just Highlight the section of the page you want to print, hit cntrl p, when the print window pops up scroll lthrought the settings and select print selection only. This will make the printer print only the highlighted sections.
I have been looking for a good applesauce cake
I remember clearly dear grandmother’s cake.
This looks great without all that frosting, but I have no bundt cake pan
Can this be baked any other pan?
Hi Rosalee, I think you could make it in a tube pan or two 9 inch cake pans and ice it like a layer cake. Thank you for stopping by my website.
I’m making this for my 1st Thanksgiving, when it says 3 cups apple sauce, is that literal, 3 cups, or 3 of the little containers the applesauce comes in ?
Hi Nicola! How exciting to celebrate your first Thanksgiving. I’m not sure how much is in the individual cups so to be exact I would measure in a measuring cup three cups of applesauce. Buying a jar might make this easier. Be sure to tag me so I can see how you did! Happy Thanksgiving Melissa
isnt 3 cups of applesauce too much for a cake
Since there is no eggs in the recipe the applesauce is their substitute. Her recipe is exact and turns out perfect.
can i use unsweetened applesauce since there is 2 cups of sugar in the recipe, will it affect the taste of the cake
You can try it but I can’t guarantee the results as I’ve only made the cake following her recipe. Let me know if it works out.
How well does it freeze? That’s a lot of cake for one person.
Hi Patrick. I can’t answer if the cake freezes well because it’s so good it never lasts long! Cake can be shared, too. Enjoy.