Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I Knew You Were Coming So I Baked A Cake

Well, I really wished you could have stopped by for a bite of this delicious Applesauce Cake that I made last night. It came out so moist and paired well with a cold glass of milk.

Look at the beautiful, fluffy batter dotted with spices...




I didn't have a tube pan like the recipe called for so I baked it in a bundt pan...




Here it is right after coming out of the oven. The aroma was delightful!




The icing looks beautiful dripping down the sides of the cake...




Of course, we had to try it...




Here's the recipe from Allrecipes.com...

MOTHER'S APPLESAUCE CAKE

3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
3 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts

Icing:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1. Whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon, cloves and soda. Set aside.

2. Cream together 1/2 cup butter and 2 cups brown sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs. Add flour mixture into creamed mixture alternately with applesauce, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Stir in the raisins, dates, and walnuts. Pour into greased and floured tube pan.

3. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 1-1/2 hours, or until done. Cool.

4. To make icing, melt 1/2 cup butter in a small saucepan over low heat, stir in 1 cup brown sugar. Boil for 2 minutes. Stir in milk, and continue to stir until the mixture returns to a boil. Remove from heat, and cool for 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla and confectioners' sugar. Frost cooled cake.


***My personal opinion...I think the cloves in this recipe can be cut by 1/2 depending on your taste. I used a scant teaspoon this time after reading the reviews for this recipe. I'm going to cut the the cloves to 1/2 teaspoon the next time I make it. My taste buds are still pretty dull due to my cold and I could still taste a strong clove flavor in this cake.
Another thing that I should mention is to cut the icing recipe to 1/4 unless you enjoy a huge amount of icing. This makes way too much icing for my taste and I have a very sweet tooth.
The fruits and nuts were omitted from the cake due to picky family members.
Be sure to test the cake during the last half hour of baking. My cake was ready to come out of the oven 10 minutes earlier than the recipe called for.

On a crafty note...

Another craft fair project that I've made over the years are these floral paper clips. It's so much fun to adorn a stack of papers with something bright and pretty. It makes a great teacher's gift too. I'd choose these over a boring silver paperclip any day.




I hope you have an extraordinary day.

Aloha!

***Don't forget to enter my giveaway. If you are new to my blog, please refer to my post of April 8 for the rules.***


****Hi! I'm sorry the pictures aren't showing up for you. Blogger can be very strange at times because the photos are showing up for me. I've uploaded them once again. I hope this helps. Please let me know if you still cannot see them.
By the way, I haven't had an applesauce cake for over 20 years too and I had been thinking about the applesauce cake with raisins that my mom would make when I was a child. I hunted around for quite a while until I found a recipe with pretty good ratings and then took the plunge. Worth every calorie, I tell you. I also wanted to mention that my son says that the spices are just right as it is. I guess this is where personal taste comes in. Thanks everyone, have a nice day!

10 comments:

sweetiepie said...

Lettie - The cake sounds wonderful, although for some reason, I can't see the pictures. Thanks for the recipe. I might have to try it out. So far this week I have made banana nut bread and chocolate chip cookies. Oh, well, what is a few more calories. Joyce in Iowa

Netter said...

I can't see your pics either. I read through your recipe though and it sounds delish! I'll check back later to see if the pics are working. That happens to my site sometimes. I think its just a server issue.

I made brownies last night and they are almost gone. I guess someone was hungry last night.

annemarie said...

Lettie - Oh that cake brings back memories. My mother made applesauce cake all the time - it was a favorite of ours. I have not made one in twenty years but now I am going to have to make one. I cannot see pics either - I thought it was me at first but guess it isn't. Thanks for the memories! Anne from Texas

Sue Cahill said...

I can't see the pictures so I'm imagining how yummy it looks. I love to bake and will definately try the recipe with your suggestions. Thanks for making my mouth water.

sweetiepie said...

Lettie - Success! I can now see the pictures of your lovely cake. It looks delicious! Love the paper clips too! Joyce in Iowa

annemarie said...

Pictures are working now - yummy pictures I must add! I think I will leave out the cloves as well as the dates when I try the cake - cannot wait. Anne from Texas

Anonymous said...

Hi Gals! Thanks for letting me know that the pictures are now working.
Anne, unless you really dislike cloves, I think that adding at least 1/2 teaspoon to the batter is necessary to flavor this cake. This is supposed to be similar in flavor to a spice cake.
Joyce, happy to hear that you like the paper clips. They are loved by many of my customers too.
I hope you all get to try this recipe, it's that good!
Lettie

Anonymous said...

Ummmmm, that looks so good! The paper clips are a cute idea too! Thanks!

Rowena said...

Lately the photos have been showing up, so either Blogger wised up or the photo fairy came to visit! ;-)

I knew from the first photo that this was no Betty Crocker! Sounds, no actually smells wonderful reading through the recipe. Sugar and spice and applesauce nice, that's what this cake is made of!

bj said...

Thanks a bunch for this great sounding recipe...I am making it tonight....
I love your pretty blog and especially your snappy name Polka Dot Pineapple...love it!
hugs, bj