Applesauce Birthday Cake

After picking 15 pounds of Stayman Winesap apples last week, I had to figure out what to do with them. Apple pie? No, I’m not that confident in my crust making abilities. Apple cake? That would only take care of a couple of apples. So I decided to make applesauce. I used Mark Bittman’s recipe from How to Cook Everything. Basically I dumped quartered apples into a stockpot with a little water, cooked them until they got mushy then put them through the food mill. The result was beautiful, pink applesauce that was so sweet despite having no sugar added.

Okay, so now I had a huge container filled with applesauce. What now? Since KCRW’s Matt Holzman just had a birthday, I thought I’d bring him an applesauce cake. I used Gale Gand’s recipe, swapping out the butter for Earth Balance, which pleased those people in the office watching their cholesterol.

I put the cake in the trunk of my scooter and delivered it safely to KCRW. (recipe after the jump)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tap vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsps baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 cups applesauce

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts

Powdered sugar, optional

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 theapplesauce. Fold in the raisins and walnuts. 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, and dust with powdered sugar.