Apple Pecan Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

Apple Pecan Spice Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting - made October 12, 2019 modified from The Recipe Critic

For my second baking meetup (post to follow after this one), the theme was Fall Desserts. While that might mean pumpkin or pumpkin spice for some people, for me, autumn is about apples. That's when they're best in season. Although, truthfully, I eat them year round.

I decided to go with this sheet cake for Apple Pecan Spice Cake since I'd been traveling for the past few weeks, knew I was getting back late on Friday night before the Sunday meetup and I wanted something easy to shop for and make. Which this was.

Although I normally like baked goods to be served same day as much as possible, I made this the day before the meetup as I wanted the cake to develop its flavor overnight and I figured with the apples, there would be sufficient moisture to make sure the cake didn't dry out when consumed a day later. Fortunately, I was right. This cake was pretty moist and made a good fall dessert.

I feel like the only fail was the frosting. I followed the recipe to the letter but the frosting came out really soft, almost runny. I could've countered that by adding more brown sugar but I didn't want the frosting to be too sweet so I tried chilling it instead. Nope, that didn't work. Unlike frostings with confectioners' sugar that help the frosting to "set", brown sugar does not. Still, it wasn't too bad. Oh and I did modify the original recipe to add the pecans as a garnish on top of the frosting instead of incorporating into the cake batter. I'm not a fan of nuts in cakes or cookies or brownies themselves since the nuts soften and steam in baking. In my mind, softened pecan pieces would've detracted from the texture of the cake which was already "lumpy" with the apples. So I toasted the chopped pecans and sprinkled them over the frosted cake instead. It provided an added crunch and toasted pecan flavor that contributed to the fall dessert theme.

4 cups Granny Smith Apples, peeled, chopped into small pieces
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup golden brown sugar
1 cup pecans, lightly toasted, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine apples and sugar. Stir in oil, eggs and vanilla.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add the flour mixture to the apple mixture. Add milk and stir until just combined. 
4. Pour in to the prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely.
5. Make the frosting: beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and free of lumps. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla and brown sugar. Beat for 5 minutes until light and fluffy and sugar has dissolved. Spread evenly on top of cake. Garnish with toasted, chopped pecans.