Heart-Shaped Spiced Applesauce Cakes For Valentine’s Day

You see, I feel the way about heart-shaped foods that I do about rainbow sprinkles. There’s just something about it that makes it taste better. There has to be some scientific reasoning behind it, don’t you think? Valentine’s Day is sometimes my favorite holiday, and it’s hard to explain. I’m sure I’ll tell you more about it as the day gets closer but it runs deep. Way beyond heart candy and greeting cards. Also, I just think a day to celebrate love in all forms is special. I celebrate with all loved ones. My mom and I once did a Valentine Countdown, like an Advent Calendar.

Heart-Shaped Spiced Applesauce Cakes For Valentine’s Day:

I love applesauce; I always have and I always will. And I love Musselman’s applesauce products! And right now they’re introducing their new creative message – “Handpicked from our family farms.” This reinforces their “grower-owned family farms ethos.” What does this message do? It reinforces the idea that farmers care, because Musselman’s is grower-owned – and they take pride in every step of the process. Every Musselman’s product provides a comfort consumers can count on, knowing that the food they give their families has been carefully raised by another family. The apples Musselman’s grows are rooted in their family, and handpicked for others. There’s a quality, taste, and trust that comes with Musselman’s products that we simply cannot get from other brands. These products are made with 100% American grown apples.

The Recipe:

What You Need:

1 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup Musselman’s Unsweetened Applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)
Cream cheese frosting, whether canned or homemade
Valentine’s Day sprinkles
Heart cake pan (pictured below)

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Yield: 6 cakes

What You Do:

1 – Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a heart cake pan.

2 – Place flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl and use a fork to mix the dry ingredients together.

3 – Make a hole in the center of the ingredients and crack an egg into the hole.

4 – Then add the olive oil, yogurt, applesauce, and vanilla, and use a fork to mix until the ingredients are smooth and blended.

5 – Pour or scoop the batter into the six hearts of the baking pan (or one big heart or whatever you use).

6 – Bake until an inserted toothpick or knife comes out clean, which is about 25-30 minutes.

7 – Cool cakes completely and then frost and sprinkle them. Enjoy!

And that’s it! They have an amazing consistency and the cakes are easy to make, so kids can help! Plus, they’re deliciously scented with cinnamon and sugar and you can smell them baking throughout the whole house. We decided to frost some of ours but leave others as is – just to enjoy the spiced applesauce flavor. So, pick handpicked Musselman’s over artificial ingredient alternatives – it’s the natural choice!

So, would you frost these Spiced Applesauce Cakes?