Lavender infuses glaze on applesauce cake

(A sunflower-shaped Bundt pan is the perfect vessel for this applesauce cake infused with lavender)

Applesauce in cakes in a wonderful thing — you can cut back on oil or butter and sugar and still get a moist, yet light, cake.
I still have applesauce in the freezer from last season's crop and I felt like baking a cake, so I recently turned to an old standby recipe.

This recipe for Applesauce Cake with Meyer Lemon-Lavender-Infused Glaze is a variation on a recipe from Andrea Meyers' delightful blog. She adapted it from "The Silver Palate Cookbook," by Julee Rosso and the late Sheila Lukins. That's the thing with recipes, you start with a base and it evolves with each cook who wields her whisk at it.

(Applesauce makes this cake moist and sweet)

I like this recipe for the hint of floral notes the lavender gives it. I make sure to save some of my lavender blossoms from the summer to dry specifically for this recipe. I still had a Meyer lemon in the fridge, so I decided to use that for the glaze. The original recipe calls for 1 cup of confectioner's sugar for the glaze, but the cake is sweet enough without all that, so I only used about 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar. The dried cranberries also sweeten the cake, but you could also substitute dried apricots or currants for a different texture and taste.

This is a lovely cake to bake on a dreary winter day. It's especially nice baked in the sunflower-patterned Bundt pan that was given to me one year as a birthday gift. Use any 10-inch Bundt pan or loaf pan for this recipe.

I love having a slice of this cake for breakfast with coffee in the morning. I hope you do, too.

Applesauce Cake with Meyer Lemon-Lavender-Infused Glaze

For the cake:

1. 2 sticks unsalted butter
2. 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3. 2 eggs
4. 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
5. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6. 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
7. 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8. 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
9. 2 teaspoons baking soda
10. 1 cup dried cranberries

For the glaze:

1. 3 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice (If you don't have Meyer lemons, use 1-1/2 tablespoons regular lemon juice and 1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice)
2. 1 tablespoon culinary lavender buds (homegrown if you have them, otherwise make sure they are untreated)
3. 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees with rack set in the middle of the oven.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well each time.
• Add the applesauce and vanilla extract, and mix well.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda.
• Add to the butter mixture and mix gently.
• Fold in the cranberries by hand. Do not overmix.
• Pour the batter into a prepared Bundt or loaf pan.
• Bake for about 60 minutes, until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Remove cake from the oven and cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes; remove cake from pan onto a wire rack and cool completely.

For the glaze:

• While the cake is cooling, combine the lemon juice and lavender buds in a small saucepan.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat.
• Remove from heat and strain into small bowl. Allow to cool.
• Add the powdered sugar and whisk until the glaze is smooth.
• Drizzle the glaze over the cake; slice and serve.