Applesauce Cake with Creole Butter Frosting
Prep: 10 min
Bake: 60 min
Yield: 6 to 8 Servings
A vintage recipe from the Swans Down archives! The Igleheart brothers, founders of Swans Down® Cake Flour, published this recipe in their 1931 cake recipe book entitled New Cake Secrets. Baked with nuts, figs and applesauce and topped with a delicious coffee and cocoa glaze, it’s a coffee cake classic.
- 1 3/4 cups sifted Swans Down®️ Cake Flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg, well beaten
- 1 cup dried figs, stems removed and chopped
- 1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
- 1 cup thick applesauce, heated
- Creole Butter Frosting (recipe follows)
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 1/2 tablespoons strong-brewed coffee, hot
- 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Preheat oven to 350 ℉. Grease a 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.75-inch loaf pan.
- Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves and sift together three times.
- Cream butter thoroughly, then add sugar gradually and cream together until light and fluffy. Add egg, figs and walnuts.
- Add flour alternately with applesauce, a small amount at a time, beating after each addition until incorporated. Pour batter into the greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.
- Make Frosting: Combine cocoa powder and coffee and mix well. Cream butter; add confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, salt and coffee mixture and beat until smooth. (Makes enough glaze for 1 cake.)
- Remove cake from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Spoon frosting on top of the cake and allow to set before serving.
