Let Them Eat...CHUNKY APPLESAUCE CAKE!

Ingredients

Cake:
2 medium Granny Smith, peeled, cored and diced into 1/4 to 1/2-inch pieces
Applesauce made from 2 Gala Apples (just halve this recipe from My Favorite Dinner Recipes)
3 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup half and half
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoon water, plus extra, as needed
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Liberally butter and flour a 10-inch fluted tube or Bundt pan. Set aside.

This cake pan is older than me! :-)

Prepare the streusel topping: Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; sprinkle over the cake.

Prepare the cake: In a large bowl, mix together the apples, applesauce, eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla.

In a separate medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt, and set aside.

In batches, mix the dry ingredients into the apple mixture.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

Top with the streusel topping, and bake until a cake tester or skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes and invert onto a wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.

Prepare the icing: In a food processor, combine the powdered sugar, half and haf, cream cheese, 3 tablespoons water, and vanilla. Process until smooth, adding more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the icing is pourable.

Pour the icing over the cake and allow to set for 20 minutes before slicing.

To be honest...I wasn't that wowed by this...I'm going to do a taste test, my adaptation of Giada's cake vs. my adaptation of Anne Burrell's cake, and see which one I prefer...

Adapted from:  Giada's Apple Spice Cake