Applesauce Cake

It started last summer. Our apple stick had yielded a lot of fruit and I was thinking of things to do with the bounty. Of course, pie, but there were so man, I had to think of some other uses. I started to crave applesauce cake and wrote about it in my blog. Well, there's apparently something about applesauce cake that spoke to a deep and ancient place in my readership. Because there was much virtual yumming going on.

And it became an icon, an in-joke. When someone had something to celebrate, I "baked" them an applesauce cake. References to applesauce cake abound in both posts and comments. Maybe there's just something sort of amusing about applesauce cake. Say it. It sounds kinda funny.

But applesauce cake is also very yummy. I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to cake. While nuts and raisins hold important places in my culinary adventures, in pastry not so much. Somehow, it just feels like too much work to eat a slice of cake that's full of bits. Pure and simple, that's the way to go. But if you like those things in your applesauce cake, by all means add them in.

This cake is very pleasant as is and unadorned. (Especially for breakfast). It is also very nice with a snowfall of confectioner's sugar or a saucing of creme anglaise or whipped cream. But it is out-of-this-world with a candied ginger buttercream.

Lorraine's Applesauce Cake

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
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg pinch of cloves
½ teaspoon powdered ginger
2 cups applesauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, cream the butter. Add the brown sugar and continue mixing. 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. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the applesauce. Pour batter into a greased and floured loaf or tube pan and bake until firm to the touch, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in the pan, then turn it out.

To serve dust with powdered sugar or frost with Gingered Vanilla Buttercream Icing.

Gingered Vanilla Buttercream Icing

3 c. confectioner’s sugar
1 c. butter, softened to room temperature
1 t. vanilla extract
1-2 T. whipping cream
¼ candied ginger, chopped up fine

In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

Add vanilla, 1 T. cream and the ginger and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed to reach spreadable consistency.