Apple Pear Spice Cake

Apple Pear Spice Cake -Warm spices, raisins, applesauce, and diced pears make a delicious autumn cake.If you want to know what a warm autumn afternoon tastes like, then this cake is for you. And if it is a chilly autumn afternoon, this cake is bound to warm  you right up.

Fall is my favorite season and it appears it’s only going to be a few weeks long this year. So sad. But I have come to accept that this is part of living in Northern Utah. But just because the mercury has dropped lower than I’d like, doesn’t mean I have to forsake all the flavors associated with the season.

Based on the amount of desserts I have made in the last 20 months, It’s pretty clear I love all things chocolate (and coffee). But every now and again I have to mix it up and try other flavors outside the chocolate family.

And when I do, Oh My!  It inspires me to actually bake more.

This post is sponsored by Camp Chef.  As part of my on-going relationship with them, I received a 12″ skillet to review, however all thoughts and opinions, glowing, gushing, or otherwise are 100% my own.This Apple Pear Spice cake is super simple to make. No electric mixer needed, hand or stand. Frosting cakes is not my forte, and this one requires no such special skills. I felt this would be absolutely perfect to make in my Camp Chef 12″ Cast-iron skillet.

The skillet was the perfect choice. The cake is rustic, the skillet is rustic. The pre-seasoned nature meant I used very little butter when I was preparing the pan to bake the cake, much less then a normal cake pan. I’ve been using the skillet for about a year now and absolutely love it.

I probably use this skillet more than any other item in my kitchen (sans the coffee maker, utensils, and towels). I have made all types of meals, from breakfast skillets, to grilled cheese, to hearty dinners in it. My favorite aspect of the pan, cleaning it. Yes, you read that right, CLEANING IT.I hate dishes. You have no idea how much I hate doing dishes. But when I neglect the pan on the stove for some “emergency” generated by the child or simply because I was neglectful of it on my own accord, cleaning it is utterly simple. I just scrape out the contents as best I can, put some water in the pan, put it on the stove over medium heat, and let it warm up, those stuck on bits pull right off, leaving me to just wipe it out and dry it. I do usually add a bit of olive oil to keep the seasoning in tact.

My skillet is now an integral part of my kitchen. Looking forward to all the delicious things I can still make in it…I wonder how it would handle skillet-frying some buttermilk fried chicken…a current craving.

Apple Pear Spice Cake

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Author: Michelle De La Cerda

Apple Pear Spice Cake -Warm spices, raisins, applesauce, and diced pears make a delicious autumn cake.

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Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1 stick salted butter , plus more for the pan
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 2/3 cups applesauce
• 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped canned pears; well drained
• Optional:
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• Pint of vanilla bean ice cream

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Butter the 12" cast iron skillet.
3. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt together and sift.
4. In a large sauce pan, melt the butter.
5. Remove from heat and slow stir in the sugar, applesauce, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and eggs.
6. Gradually add in the flour mixture, taking care to mix well.
7. Once combine, stir in the raisins and the pears.
8. Pour in the skillet.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
10. Once the cake is cooked, remove it from the oven and allow to set for 10 minutes, then remove it from the cast iron pan and place it on a cooling rack.
11. If using powdered sugar, sprinkle the top of the cake.
12. Slice into wedges and serve with the optional vanilla bean ice cream.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from Real Simple Magazine.

Thank you for sharing!