Applesauce cake

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A slice of applesauce cake with a cinnamon and sugar topping Applesauce cake.jpg
A slice of applesauce cake with a cinnamon and sugar topping

Applesauce cake is a dessert cake prepared using apple sauce, flour and sugar as primary ingredients. Various spices are typically used, and it tends to be a moist cake. Several additional ingredients may also be used in its preparation, and it is sometimes prepared and served as a coffee cake. The cake dates back to early colonial times in the United States. National Applesauce Cake Day occurs annually on June 6 in the U.S.

Contents

History

The preparation of applesauce cake dates back to early colonial times in the New England Colonies of the northeastern United States. [1] From 1900 to the 1950s, [2] recipes for applesauce cake frequently appeared in American cookbooks. [3] In the United States, National Applesauce Cake Day occurs annually on June 6. [4]

Ingredients and preparation

Applesauce cupcakes Applesauce cupcakes.jpg
Applesauce cupcakes

Applesauce cake is a dessert cake prepared using apple sauce, flour and sugar as main ingredients. Store-bought or homemade applesauce may be used in its preparation. [5] Additional ingredients include eggs, butter, margarine or oil, raisins, dates, chopped apple, chopped nuts (such as walnuts and pecans), cocoa powder, and spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice. [1] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] Some versions include dried or fresh, finely grated ginger. [12] [13] After baking, applesauce cake is sometimes topped with an icing, [7] frosting or glaze, such as a caramel glaze. [12] [14] It also may be served topped with a dusting of confectioner's sugar [15] [16] or whipped cream. [17] Gluten-free applesauce cake can be prepared using rice flour. [18] Egg-free applesauce cake can be made by using an egg substitute.

Applesauce cake tends to be moist due to the liquid content present in the apple sauce. [8] However, using a chunky-style apple sauce can result in a cake with less moisture than from using standard apple-sauce. [19] Letting it sit for one or two days before serving can increase its flavor, [lower-alpha 1] [lower-alpha 2] as this allows time for the ingredients to intermingle within the cake.

It can be prepared using various types of cake pans, such as a ring-shaped bundt cake using a bundt pan, [21] [22] in loaf form using a loaf pan, or as a sheet cake with a sheet cake pan. [20] Applesauce cake is sometimes prepared in the form of cupcakes. [13] [14]

Variations

Applesauce cake may be prepared and served as a type of coffee cake, [23] which may include a sweet crumb topping. [24] Simple versions may be prepared using prepared coffee cake mix, apple sauce, and other various ingredients. [11] Fruits such as blueberries, cranberries and raisins may also be used in applesauce coffee cake. [25] [26] [27]

See also

Notes

  1. "Like most cakes of this type, it tastes even better when allowed to sit a day or two, and it will keep well and stay moist for up to a week when wrapped properly." [5]
  2. "... the cake is better after the first day, and keeps well." [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dessert</span> Sweet course that concludes a meal

Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts. In some parts of the world there is no tradition of a dessert course to conclude a meal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apple sauce</span> Purée made from apples

Apple sauce is a purée made of apples. It can be made with peeled or unpeeled apples and can be spiced or sweetened. Apple sauce is inexpensive and is widely consumed in North America and some parts of Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bread pudding</span> Pudding made with stale bread

Bread pudding is a bread-based dessert popular in many countries' cuisines. It is made with stale bread and milk or cream, generally containing eggs, a form of fat such as oil, butter or suet and, depending on whether the pudding is sweet or savory, a variety of other ingredients. Sweet bread puddings may use sugar, syrup, honey, dried fruit, nuts, as well as spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, or vanilla. The bread is soaked in the liquids, mixed with the other ingredients, and baked.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cake</span> Flour-based baked sweet

Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate and which share features with desserts such as pastries, meringues, custards, and pies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crème caramel</span> Custard dessert with soft caramel on top

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soufflé</span> Baked egg-based dish

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheesecake</span> Cheese-based dessert

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bananas Foster</span> Dessert of bananas, ice cream, and sauce

Bananas Foster is a dessert made from bananas and vanilla ice cream, with a sauce made from butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, dark rum, and banana liqueur. The butter, sugar and bananas are cooked, and then alcohol is added and ignited. The bananas and sauce are then served over the ice cream. Popular toppings also include whipped cream and different types of nuts. The dish is often prepared tableside as a flambé.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apple cake</span> Cakes made with apples

Apple cakes are cakes in which apples feature as a main flavour and ingredient. Such cakes incorporate apples in a variety of forms, including diced, pureed, or stewed, and can include common additions like raisins, nuts, and 'sweet' spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg. They are a common and popular dessert worldwide, thanks to millennia of apple cultivation in Asia and Europe, and their widespread introduction and propagation throughout the Americas during the Columbian Exchange and colonisation. As a result, apple desserts, including cakes, have a huge number of variations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrot cake</span> Sweet cake with carrot as an ingredient

Carrot cake is cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee cake (American)</span> Cake intended to be eaten with, or flavored with, coffee

Coffee cake or coffeecake is a sweet bread common in the United States, so called because it is typically served with coffee. Leavenings can include yeast, baking soda, or baking powder. The modern dish typically contains no coffee. Outside the US, the term is generally understood to mean a cake flavored with coffee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wacky cake</span> Cake made without eggs, butter or milk

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sponge cake</span> Type of cake

Sponge cake is a light cake made with eggs, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance, possibly in Spain. The sponge cake is thought to be one of the first non-yeasted cakes, and the earliest attested sponge cake recipe in English is found in a book by the English poet Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman (1615). Still, the cake was much more like a cracker: thin and crispy. Sponge cakes became the cake recognised today when bakers started using beaten eggs as a rising agent in the mid-18th century. The Victorian creation of baking powder by English food manufacturer Alfred Bird in 1843 allowed the addition of butter to the traditional sponge recipe, resulting in the creation of the Victoria sponge. Cakes are available in many flavours and have many recipes as well. Sponge cakes have become snack cakes via the Twinkie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coffee sauce</span> Culinary sauce that includes coffee

Coffee sauce is a culinary sauce that includes coffee in its preparation. It is sometimes prepared using instant coffee. Coffee sauce has been used in American cuisine since at least 1904. Coffee sauce may be sweet or savory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fig cake</span>

Fig cake is a cake prepared with fig as a primary ingredient. Some preparation variations exist. It is a part of the cuisine of the Southern United States, Greek cuisine, and the Appalachian Mountains region of North America. It is also a part of the cuisine of Ocracoke, North Carolina, which has an annual fig festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut cake</span> Cake prepared using chestnuts

Chestnut cake is a cake prepared using chestnuts. Chestnut flour prepared from cooked, ground chestnuts is used in its preparation, along with additional typical cake ingredients. It is sometimes prepared as a chocolate cake. Chestnuts are sometimes used in a frosting or glaze atop the cake, and it may be garnished with cooked or candied chestnuts. It can be prepared as a gluten-free dish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banana cake</span> Cake made from banana

A banana cake is a cake prepared using banana as a primary ingredient and typical cake ingredients. It can be prepared in various manners, including as a layer cake, as muffins and as cupcakes. Steamed banana cake is found in Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian and Vietnamese cuisine. In the Philippines, the term "banana cake" refers to banana bread introduced during the American colonial period of the Philippines.

Watergate cake is a pistachio cake popular in the U.S. which shares its name with the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, although the name's origin is not clear. The cake pre-dates Watergate salad, a dessert made with similar ingredients including pistachio pudding.

References

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Further reading