Applesauce

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Here you go. This is great-great gran's recipe, and the only liquid in it is the applesauce (which accounts for its full apply flavour as well as its moisture.) This scale of the recipe makes either two small cakes (about 18 cm) for layering or one 27 cm diameter honker.

1.5 C sweet butter, no other

1.5 C brown sugar / panela

1.5 C applesauce

3 eggs

3 C AP flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

0.5 tsp sea salt

3 tsp cinnamon

0.75 tsp nutmeg

1.5 tsp ginger

0.75 C raisins

0.75 C chopped walnuts

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Preheat your oven to medium (350 F / 180 C)

1. Cream together butter and sugar; once fluffy, add applesauce and beat to mix. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well.

2. Combine flour, leavens, salt, and spices. Sift into wet.

3. Stir until just combined. The batter should be fairly stiff.

4. Fold in nuts and raisins.

5. Drop into a prepared (waxed/greased/floured) cake pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted pick comes out clean - your times may be longer due to lower altitudes.

I like to ice this with thick Manjar de Leche, and if you've made two cakes for layering the filling is definitely Manjar with some extra chopped walnuts sprinkled on top.

[Kouign Aman]

unchunky chutney?

[Darienne]

Thanks all for all the replies. Now I have an excess of recipes to try. Think I'll go for PanaCan's cake and the Aplets first. Thanks again.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I would also recommend making your applesauce cake without spices, only vanilla as seasoning. It is often spice that overwhelms fruit flavor. I'd add a splash of calvados or apple jack if you have it.

[Darienne]

I would also recommend making your applesauce cake without spices, only vanilla as seasoning. It is often spice that overwhelms fruit flavor. I'd add a splash of calvados or apple jack if you have it.

What a good idea. About 5 minutes too late for this cake. Already mixed the spices in with the flour. Next time. Good idea.

[Jaymes]

Here you go. This is great-great gran's recipe, and the only liquid in it is the applesauce (which accounts for its full apply flavour as well as its moisture.)

Thanks, PC. I'm going to give it a go sometime over this next week. Looks wonderful, and I've got a jar of cajeta in the pantry. I'm all set!

[Darienne]

Thanks, PC. I'm going to give it a go sometime over this next week. Looks wonderful, and I've got a jar of cajeta in the pantry. I'm all set!

I have the cake underway. Waiting for the applesauce to thaw.

And I have 2 jars and 1 can of dulce de leche in my pantry - Nestle, Goya and Roland. And I am stunned by the difference in the ingredients in them.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Thanks, PC. I'm going to give it a go sometime over this next week. Looks wonderful, and I've got a jar of cajeta in the pantry. I'm all set!

I have the cake underway. Waiting for the applesauce to thaw.

And I have 2 jars and 1 can of dulce de leche in my pantry - Nestle, Goya and Roland. And I am stunned by the difference in the ingredients in them.

Have you ever thought of making your own caramel sauce "to order"? It is insanely easy: caramelize the sugar, stir in butter and sea salt, then cream and voila! Fresh and very inexpensive, compared to commercial. And you control the quality of the ingredients.

[SobaAddict70]

You might try making an apple sharlotka but with some applesauce in the batter.

[Darienne]

Have you ever thought of making your own caramel sauce "to order"? It is insanely easy: caramelize the sugar, stir in butter and sea salt, then cream and voila! Fresh and very inexpensive, compared to commercial. And you control the quality of the ingredients.

I've done it...but not today. And not with your recipe. Sounds interesting.

[Darienne]

You might try making an apple sharlotka but with some applesauce in the batter.

I actually made this cake and it's either the recipe or me. Was not taken by the results. First non-success with a Smitten Kitchen recipe.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I would also recommend making your applesauce cake without spices, only vanilla as seasoning. It is often spice that overwhelms fruit flavor. I'd add a splash of calvados or apple jack if you have it.

Margaret, with the small amounts of spice that are present in this cake, you don't lose any of the apple flavour. If anything, the blend of cinnamon with the hint of nutmeg accents it. I've tried probably about 20 or 25 different applesauce cake recipes, and great-great-gran's always comes out on top, with no needed boost for the apples.

Darienne also mentioned that the apples her sauce is based on are Spies and Macs, which tend to (particularly the Spies) retain a wonderful apple flavour in sauce applications. The only apple better than a Spie for this cake is the type of aromatic Pippin grown in the tropics (which is what I use, and it does come down to personal preference.)

[Darienne]

PanaCan's great-great-gran's apple cake is made and is delicious. So moist, so tasty. I can't even tell if I can taste the apples or not. (Could be an excess of tasting here.)

Ed likes it with the dulce de leche on top. I like it bare so far, but might try it with a cream cheese icing. Or not. It might get eaten before I get around to it.

Thanks PanaCan.

Have another container of apple sauce out to try the Aplets next.

[Kouign Aman]

If you need a tester for the Aplets, I'm here for you.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I would also recommend making your applesauce cake without spices, only vanilla as seasoning. It is often spice that overwhelms fruit flavor. I'd add a splash of calvados or apple jack if you have it.

Margaret, with the small amounts of spice that are present in this cake, you don't lose any of the apple flavour. If anything, the blend of cinnamon with the hint of nutmeg accents it. I've tried probably about 20 or 25 different applesauce cake recipes, and great-great-gran's always comes out on top, with no needed boost for the apples.

I understand completely. Whether to spice, in any quantity, or not is a matter of taste memory. I grew up on the California coast where we celebrated the taste of fruit: never spice in sauce, or cake or pie of any kind. Just fruit and, when appropriate, butter and cream. I can't eat spiced fruit dishes, but certainly understand how others are used to this taste.

[SylviaLovegren]

PanaCan's great-great-gran's apple cake is made and is delicious. So moist, so tasty. I can't even tell if I can taste the apples or not. (Could be an excess of tasting here.)

Ed likes it with the dulce de leche on top. I like it bare so far, but might try it with a cream cheese icing. Or not. It might get eaten before I get around to it.

A friend makes a similar cake with a brown sugar penuche icing, which is...well, it's the kind of thing I'd roll around on the floor and do tricks for, if you must know.

I'm gonna try that cake.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

It's an interesting question whether a caramel or penuche sauce or frosting is instrumental to bringing out a clean, fruit flavor. I can see a non-spiced cake with either of these as a WOW fruit bomb.

Maybe need to do this. Many thanks.

[Darienne]

Half the cake is gone, iced with the dulce de leche, Nestle brand. Can't recall where I got the can. Not in Peterpatch, for certain. Went to the window installer's family up the road. Never hurts...

The second half is in our fridge, also iced with the above. The inspector comes this morning for the current building inspection and who knows? cake might help for future problems.

I do like the cake iced with the dulce which is not as sweet as some others.

I must try Margaret Pilgrim's recipe for the cajeta.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

I must try Margaret Pilgrim's recipe for the cajeta.

Note that when you add the butter, the mass will harden and separate. Just keep stirring. In the meantime, heat the cream, which will make it combine easier. At several points, it will look like a disaster, but it will soon come together into a luxuriant, silken sauce. You can determine the thickness by the amount of cream you add and the amount of time you let it boil down. Enjoy!

[Darienne]

Aplets. That is the recipe I used because it simply called for unsweetened applesauce. I used 3/4 cup of walnuts instead of the called for 1/2 cup and when I make it again, I'll use a full cup of walnuts. Also I rolled the finished squares in confectioner's sugar with added cornstarch. Three hours later the squares are still dry and presentable.

Delicious. Well worth making. I'm really pleased with them.

I have a meeting to go to on February 14th. Maybe I'll make another batch, coloring them a deeper red. A tad hokey, but fun.

Thanks again, all.

[SylviaLovegren]

Aplets. That is the recipe I used because it simply called for unsweetened applesauce. I used 3/4 cup of walnuts instead of the called for 1/2 cup and when I make it again, I'll use a full cup of walnuts. Also I rolled the finished squares in confectioner's sugar with added cornstarch. Three hours later the squares are still dry and presentable.

Delicious. Well worth making. I'm really pleased with them.

I have a meeting to go to on February 14th. Maybe I'll make another batch, coloring them a deeper red. A tad hokey, but fun.

Thanks again, all.

Glad it worked and glad you found and tested a good recipe. Yum.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Aplets. That is the recipe I used because it simply called for unsweetened applesauce. I used 3/4 cup of walnuts instead of the called for 1/2 cup and when I make it again, I'll use a full cup of walnuts. Also I rolled the finished squares in confectioner's sugar with added cornstarch. Three hours later the squares are still dry and presentable.

Delicious. Well worth making. I'm really pleased with them.

Thanks so much for this treat from my childhood. Just last year I wandered into a Harry and David shop and asked the early 20-something salesclerk for Applets and Cotlets and was met by a stare of incomprehension such as one would get asking a Safeway butcher for a dinosaur steak.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Applesauce is wonderful in pancakes, and can be played up with cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves for spiciness. I like to use it with buckwheat, but can easily imagine a version with milder-tasting wheat flour and vanilla to let the apple-ness shine through more.

I've also made nice apple-pepper-cheddar bread with applesauce, and sometimes have made it with just the pepper and applesauce, skipping the cheddar, for a fruitier/sweeter bread.

And I love to just use applesauce over gingerbread, with or without additional whipped cream or ice cream, to make 'sundaes'.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

...And I love to just use applesauce over gingerbread, with or without additional whipped cream or ice cream, to make 'sundaes'.

Oh, my! You take me back to Girl Scout camp where we dropped dollops of Dromedary gingerbread mix (prepared by instructions on the back of the package) into simmering applesauce. Can't remember what we called it, but I'm sure there was some camper name.

[kayb]

Since you are interested in Mexican cooking... I would suggest improvising applesauce into a Manchamanteles... it is a Mole that simmers with whole pieces of fruit.. in the Tehuantepec Isthmus region it is typically tropical fruits like Pinapple etc., but in the cloud forest region of Veracruz & Puebla where there is an abundance of stone fruits they use apples, pears, peaches & apricots.

Basically a slightly sweet, slightly sour, medium spicy, medium bitterness sauce eaten with Pork or Poultry & stewed, grilled or roasted fruits and/or plantain, sweet potato, tamales.

Ooohhh. Can you hook a sista up with a recipe for that?