Applesauce, fresh pears, cinnamon and spices make the perfect breakfast cake, snack or dessert.
Put this simple cake on your Must Bake list.
With everyday ingredients, you can make the batter in just 20 minutes.
Although the photo shows all purpose flour, I have used a gluten free flour mix with excellent results.
For dairy free, simply sub vegan butter.
No loaf pan? No problem!
Make Applesauce Pear Cake in muffin tins or double the recipe with two round cake pans to make a decadent layer cake.
Variety’s the spice of life! Sub pears for berries, shredded carrots, nuts or toasted oats.
Different toppings = different cake:
DUSTED: powdered sugar
GLAZED: powdered sugar + lemon juice
FROSTED: butter or cream cheese frosting
DOLLOPED: whipped cream and fresh berries
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Any way you top it, be sure you pin and dig in to Applesauce Pear Cake!
More cake, please!
If you like cake as much as I like cake, check out my favorites here:
Red, White and Blueberry Buckle
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PrintApplesauce Pear Cake
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Yield: 18+ servings 1x
- Category: Breakfast Bread
- Cuisine: American
Applesauce, a fresh pear and spices make the perfect breakfast cake, snack or dessert.
Ingredients
- 1/4 pound unsalted butter (or vegan butter) + 2 tablespoons (to grease the pan)
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup applesauce mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 cups all purpose flour or gluten free flour blend + 1 tablespoon flour (to coat pear)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground or grated nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 large pear or apple, peeled, cored and cut into chunks.
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- Optional: a few tablespoons of lemon juice, water or cream to make glaze
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly butter two small or one large loaf pan and line with parchment paper.
- Use an electric or handheld mixer to cream butter and two sugars together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl after each addition.
- Stir in applesauce/ baking soda mixture.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt and spices to break up lumps.
- Add flour mixture to wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
- Toss pear or apple with flour and fold into batter.
- Pour batter into pan and bake for 45- 50 minutes, until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
- When cool, sift over powdered sugar or make a glaze (see below).
- To make glaze, pour enough liquid into powdered sugar to make a thick, pourable glaze.
- Pour glaze into zip top bag, secure top with a rubber band and snip one corner to make a pastry bag. (See Old fashioned peach cake for demos.)
- When the cake is cool, place on a plate with a few small pieces of parchment underneath the cake to catch drips. Make a decorative pattern (crisscross or just poured) on top of cake, let dry, then remove parchment pieces where the glaze has dripped. Serves 18 – 20.
Notes
Adapted from Deborah Madison’s Applesauce Spice Bread,
Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone
I made this a few days ago and used a simple orange juice glaze. It was a huge hit! I am making it again today along with a dinner to take to my sister tomorrow . My 87 year old mom lives with my sister and brother in law and she is being discharged from Rehab therapy in the morning. I think this will be greatly appreciated and encourage my mom to eat
★★★★★
Karen- I am so happy that you found this recipe and made it work for you. That’s the sign of a creative and enthusiastic baker! Hope your mom enjoys your cake and feels better soon. Keep baking‼️
I made this a few weeks ago to use up some homemade applesauce.
It was absolutely delicious!!!
The flavor and texture was a hit. I was out of powdered sugar. So I substituted a honey drizzle and sprinkling of refined sugar as it came out of the oven.
I plan to make it again for our Christmas morning with coffee and tea this year. This time with the powdered sugar/cream glaze…because, come on!
★★★★★
Hey Dusten,
Thank you for the awesome feedback!
I love your creative substitutions
and am thriled you are making the recipe your way!
Keep baking and Happy Holidays. 🙂 Dana