Applesauce Cake

Almost every time I buy a jar of applesauce it ends up being spoiled, and so I switched to buying these small one-time-use boxes(it comes in a pack of 6). It is really amazing and easy too..I have ended up adding applesauce to a number of wierd and unthinkable applications. But bottom line is I have never used it where it shines through the best, in baking. I finally got to doing that today.

I followed the recipe on Food Networks website for this cake and it was a wonderful, moist, fragrant cake.

Ingredients:

2 sticks(1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

2 cups applesauce

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts

whipped cream to serve/powdered sugar(optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan with non stick cooking spray.

In a mixer cream the butter and the brown sugar. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla, then mix until well blended and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the dry ingredients. Add the remaining dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with the applesauce. Toss the the raisins and walnuts with the reserved flour mixture. This prevents them from sinking to the bottom. Fold them into the batter. Pour batter into the greased pan and bake until firm to the touch, about 50 minutes to an hour. Let cool in the pan, then turn it out, and serve with powdered sugar or whipped cream.

Verdict: It tasted amazingly like fruit cake. Something about the combination of the cinnamon, brown sugar and applesauce gave it a caramel, burnt sugar effect. Plus it had this amazing color to it. I served it with a squirt of whipped cream and an extra sprinkle of cinnamon. Yum!

Sending this to:

1. Veggie/Fruit of the Month Apple, event by Priya of MharoRajasthan

2. Weekly Bake Off Event by Champa