Apple Spice Cake

What you need

Ingredients

• 4 tsp ground cinnamon ($0.21)
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg ($0.18)
• ½ tsp ground allspice ($0.05)
• 1 tsp ground ginger ($0.15)
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour ($0.27*)
• 1 tsp baking powder ($0.04)
• 1 tsp baking soda ($0.01)
• 1 tsp fine salt ($0.01)
• 2 Tbsp apple spice mix (see above)
• 1 stick unsalted butter (browned and cooled, $0.72)
• ½ cup neutral oil (canola or vegetable, $0.32)
• ½ cup granulated sugar ($0.17)
• 1 cup light brown sugar (packed, $0.52)
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce ($0.32**)
• ¼ cup apple juice or cider ($0.07)
• 3 large eggs (room temperature, $0.42)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract ($1.08)
• 2 Granny Smith apples (peeled and diced, (about 2 cups) $2.18***)
• 2 Honeycrisp or Fuji apples (peeled and diced, (about 2 cups) $3.32***)
• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar ($0.01)

In the correct order

Instructions

1. Gather ingredients for cake and spice mix. Preheat oven to 350℉.
2. Over medium heat, melt a stick of unsalted butter and keep an eye on it, watching for it to begin browning.
3. Peel and core apples.
4. Dice apples into small pieces, about 1-2 cm in size. While you’re preparing the apples, keep an eye on your browning butter, giving it a little swirl in the pan every so often, making sure the butter solids don’t burn.
5. At the halfway point, your butter will look a bit foamy on top, and the butter solids will start to turn golden yellow.
6. Combine dry cake ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) and the apple spice mix in a large mixing bowl.
7. Your butter will be perfectly browned after 5-10 minutes over medium heat. Remove the butter from the heat once it’s golden brown and the foam on top has dissipated. Let it cool for a few minutes, swirling it every now and then to help it cool and keep it from burning from the residual heat.
8. Combine the wet cake ingredients (eggs, neutral oil, applesauce, apple juice or cider, vanilla extract) and the sugars (brown and granulated white sugar). Add the cooled brown butter and mix to combine.
9. Little by little, add some of the dry mixture to the wet mixture. With a hand mixer on low, continue to add dry mix and blend until the batter is completely combined.
10. Then, fold in all of the diced apples.
11. Spray or butter a 9x13 inch pan.
12. Pour the apple spice cake mix into the prepared 9x13 pan.
13. Bake at 350℉ for 45 min or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.
14. Let the cake completely cool, then top with powdered sugar.