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Applesauce Spice Cake made with a boxed Duncan Hines mix is the perfect holiday, fall themed treat. A great dessert for Thanksgiving, this sheet cake for a crowd is topped with whipped cinnamon buttercream.

Applesauce Walnut Spice Cake with Cinnamon Buttercream

5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 5 hours 22 minutes
Course Dessert, holidays
Servings 12 slices

Ingredients
  

For the Cake:

  • 1 box Spice Cake mix
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/3 cup applesauce
  • 1/2 cup butter melted
  • 1/2 cup walnuts roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg

For the Frosting:

  • 1 cup 2 sticks butter, softened
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 3-4 tsp. milk start with less and add more until desired consistency
  • 1 tbsp. cinnamon

Instructions
 

For the cake

  • Preheat oven to 375F.  Grease a 9"x13" cake pan and set aside.
  • Combine all ingredients except walnuts with an electric mixer until smooth.  Fold in the walnuts.  Pour into baking dish and bake for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in pan for 30 minutes before inverting onto serving dish.

For Frosting:

  • Beat butter in the bowl of a stand mixer (or with handheld electric mixer) until fluffy and creamy (about 2 minutes).  Add in powdered sugar and beat on low (so as not to make a huge mess!).
  • Add vanilla and 2 tsp. of milk.  Keep mixing and adding little bits of milk until it reaches your desired consistency.  Add cinnamon and beat until evenly distributed.
  • Frost cake once it's completely cooled, cut in squares and you're good to go!