It’s been a while since I made a birthday cake for anyone (if we aren’t counting my own 😉 ) and this week I was so excited to make a cake for one of my close friends. Her parents came into town all the way from Italy to make a huge Italian b-day brunch spread and I wanted to bring a cake to the party to end on a sweet note.
Even though a labor of love went into this cake, I have to be honest. I picked the recipe because I happened to have all the ingredients on hand. Likewise, I’ve been feeling uninspired by the internet and wanted to spend a little more time digging through my cookbooks to pull out the all the goodies.
One of my favorite more recent cookbook purchases is the Food52 A New Way to Dinner cookbook. The pictures are so swoony and everything I’ve made from it has been A+. This was the perfect place to start on my hunt for Sunday’s cake.
Usually I’ll take my time looking at the pictures and reading all the author notes, but on Saturday I was all business, heading straight to the appendix to see what my prospects were for cake. I ran my finger down the short list until it landed on Applesauce Cake with Salted Caramel Glaze. Say the word salted and I’m in.
The cake itself was spongey and filled with all sorts of spices, including freshly ground black pepper as well as clove, ginger and cardamom, but the glaze was the real MVP. This wasn’t your average mix in powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached cake topper. I caramelized the brown sugar, butter and cream before whisking in the confectioner stuff (I wasn’t kidding about the labor of love).
There’s just a scant 1/4 teaspoon of salt in the glaze, but it brings out the caramel flavor without being too overpowering. The glaze was so good I had to throw all the leftovers in the sink and rinse it down with hot water to keep myself from licking the pot clean. I’m salivating right now just thinking of it.
Final thoughts on Applesauce Cake with Salted Caramel Glaze:
- Not really a spring cake.
- Not mad about it.
