Applesauce Cake
For those of you keeping track at home, I’ve finished seven exams and two assignments during my push to a homework-free Italian vacation. I’m off to LA over the weekend, so there won’t be much going on outside of eating In-N-Out, lounging by the pool [first day of bikini season 2012!], and watching the Timbers play the Galaxy. It’s a rough life that I lead.
I also cannot stop thinking about ice cream. The past few nights I’ve been working on all-homework-all-the-time, and by the time I come up for air, I’m craving ice cream [more specifically matcha green tea ice cream or currant sorbet and vanilla] something fierce. Like clockwork this happens at 10:45pm, and they close at 11pm. Of course they do.
So tonight, as soon as I finish my salad with crumbled hummus burgers [oh, you’ll hear all about those later], I think I’m going to go. I deserve it, damn it.
I almost baked last night in a fit of weakness after realizing that there would be no ice cream. Again. The ingredients to this applesauce cake were calling my name, but I didn’t think I should would eat a whole cake by myself in less than 48 hours. It’s dense and spicy. It didn’t need a glaze or frosting [but by all means, feel free]. Now that I think about it, it would be so good as the base to a scoop of ice cream. Don’t tempt me.
Inspiration: Food52
Ingredients
- 1 cups all-purpose flour [or 1/2 whole wheat pastry, 1/2 all-purpose]
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cracked pepper
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar [I used the last of the NuNaturals MoreFiber Blend]
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons applesauce [unsweetened]
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation
- Heat the oven to 350° and get out a 9″ cake pan.
- Sift together the flour(s), baking soda, salt, pepper, and spices.
- In a stand mixer, beat the egg and sugars together until light and fluffy.
- Mix in the applesauce, oil, and vanilla.
- Fold in the dry ingredients.
- Pour the ingredients into the pan and bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clear.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Serves 8
I can’t say I’d mind a slab of dense, damp, spicy applesauce cake right about now…maybe this is what I should be eating this weekend!
That DOES look like it’s simply meant to be a base for ice cream. I mean, a simple dense cake? What goes better under a scoop of vanilla? Oooo, or cinnamon ice cream. Although you have me intrigued by the specificity of your cravings–currant sorbet sounds amazing.
Hope you’re having a blast in LA!
The funny thing is, I ended up eating a split scoop of mint chocolate chip with lemon confetti and honey lemon with ricotta cookie. I can’t be stopped when I go into Salt and Straw. It’s just too good.