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cinnamon applesauce cake & a Bob’s Red Mill giveaway!

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Who doesn’t like snacking on a sweet, moist piece of cake with a big cold glass of milk after they get home from school?

Or as a quick grab and go breakfast on the way out the door?  (Frosting is totally optional here and not necessary at all for this super moist cake!)

Cinnamon Applesauce Cake | Sweet Anna's

Fall is officially here and with it, hurried days as we settle back into our routines.

I am always looking for a quick and easy snack for my gang.  And I love that this sweet, easy cake is full of healthy applesauce and whole wheat flour.  I’m pretty sure I will be making this with coconut oil sometimes too, for a dairy-free option.  Yum!

Cinnamon Applesauce Cake | Sweet Anna's

And as if this glorious, simple fall recipe wasn’t enough of a treat, I have an even bigger treat for you this morning.

Bob’s Red Mill is  giving one of you a copy of their Bob’s Red Mill Baking Book their (where this delicious recipe is found!) and a $50 gift card to their online store!

Bob's Red Mill Baking Book giveaway

How cool is that?!

All you need to do is enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

cinnamon applesauce cake

Yield: one 8x8-inch cake

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup unbleached white flour
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • pinch of ground cloves
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon applesauce
  • 1/2 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Directions

Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease an 8x8-inch pan or baking dish, or line it with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and baking powder.

Cream the butter with the sugars until light, about 4 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture on low speed, then add half of the applesauce. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and applesauce. Fold in the pecans (if using).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes. Cover with foil and bake another 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Eat as is or frost as desired.

Recipe published with permission from Bob's Red Mill

https://sweetannas.com/2013/09/cinnamon-applesauce-cake-a-bobs-red-mill-giveaway.html

I topped this cake with a simple maple cream cheese frosting. But you know what? I don’t know if I would bother again. The cake is just plenty good on its own! Maybe I would whip a little cinnamon-sugar butter and serve that alongside… hmmm…

 

 

We tried The Fast Metabolism Diet, and it worked!

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Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post, but the review is absolutely my own.  Questions?  Ask me!!

Ok, I am not a dieter by nature.  I am too much of a food-lover.  (Obviously!)  But after having 3 babies in under 4 years, my body had pretty much given up on ‘bouncing back’.

It didn’t matter what I ate, or didn’t eat…  my body stayed the same and seemed to get more uncomfortable every day.  I did’t feel like me anymore, but rather a miserable shadow of me, trapped in someone else’s body.

So, when I was offered the chance to try out Haylie Pomroy’s new book, The Fast Metabolism Diet, I was happy to try something new.  I wasn’t very optimistic, that’s for sure, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try, and the Hubs was on board, so we jumped right in!

(If you follow me on instagram at all, you probably had an inclination something was going on!)

I read the book, and loved it right away.  Haylie has a very scientific but understandable approach to nutrition and dieting.  She explains things well, so that I understood them, instead of just saying “do this because I said so”.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started losing weight right away!  But much more importantly…  I lost inches!!

Lots of inches actually, and all from the right places!  We are a few days from being done with the diet, but Andrew has lost 12 pounds and 3 inches off his waist (and other places too!) already and I have lost 14 pounds and 4 inches off my waist (and lots of inches from other places!!).

My waist is smaller, my thighs are smaller, the fat just felt like it was melting off my frame.  Even though the scale didn’t change that much (not 20 lbs, anyways, but I’m definitely not complaining!), the measuring tape proved much more important.

I will take inches lost over pounds any day!  (We all know muscle weighs more than fat anyways, right?)

Ok, so the bottom line is:  I am happy with the diet.  I am glad we did it.  I will happily recommend it, and I will probably do it again someday (even soon)!

But you don’t just want the bottom line, do you?

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quick caramel apple coffee cake

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Apple-filled coffee cake with a sweet cinnamon streusel topping and a rich caramel sauce!

For this second week of my New Favorites challenge, I grabbed Gale Gand’s “short + sweet” cookbook.  I grabbed it mostly out of necessity, actually, as I had a friend coming over and no time!

The tag line of this book?  “Quick desserts with eight ingredients or less.”  Perfect!!

I skimmed through and quickly chose Elsie’s Quick Apple Coffee Cake, because I had all the ingredients.

Of course, I altered the recipe a bit…  adding more cinnamon, doubling the topping & drizzling caramel sauce over the top!

I must say, this was a wonderful fall coffee cake, and I will definitely be going back to this cookbook again!

quick caramel apple coffee cake

Ingredients

    for the cake:
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 3 medium apples, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)
    • for the topping:
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish.

for the cake:

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon and salt.

In a small bowl, stir together the egg, milk and melted butter. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.

Stir in the diced apples and mix well. Spread the batter into the buttered baking dish.

for the topping:

In a medium bowl, stir together the sugars, flour, and cinnamon. Add in the butter, rubbing together quickly with your fingers, until the mixture is all combined and crumbly.

Sprinkle evenly over the batter in the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden and dry on top.

Serve warm with homemade caramel sauce.

https://sweetannas.com/2011/09/quick-caramel-apple-coffee-cake-new-favorites-challenge-week-2.html

adapted from Gale Gand’s “short + sweet” Cookbook

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