Spiced Applesauce Cake

This time of year is full of anticipation – warmer weather, longer days, and farmers introducing springtime favorites back into their market stalls. The thought of buying fresh asparagus, fava beans, and ramps is very uplifting to a cook! I’m afraid, though, we’re not quite there yet. It may be getting warmer but at my market it’s still all about potatoes, carrots, and onions, potatoes, carrots, and onions.

Oh, yes – and apples. Apples are a good source of fiber, which is great for digestion, and vitamin C. Half of the vitamin C content in an apple is in its skin, which is also where the majority of its fragrance comes from. Apples have no fat, cholesterol, or sodium and contain a bit of potassium, which is helpful to the heart.

Terhune Orchard continues to supply Manhattan with crunchy, flavorful apples thanks to their nitrogen storage and I have the perfect cake recipe to put them to tempting use. The apples are cooked down into applesauce and then folded into a warm, spicy batter. It makes for a satisfying, not-too-sweet cake that helps take the bite out of any lingering, chilly days. April showers eventually bring May flowers (and rhubarb and nettles and radishes) but until then, here’s a last hurrah for a faithful wintertime favorite.

Spiced Applesauce Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Gourmet

All this talk of spring has got me thinking it’s time to do spring-cleaning of my baking supplies. If you suspect your baking powder, baking soda, and spices are over a year old and losing flavor and potency (guilty as charged!), toss them and buy fresh. Spices can be pricey so it’s smart to keep track of when you bought them; the easiest way is to write the date of purchase right on the bottle.

Baking powder and soda only cost a few dollars and are easier to part with. They make a world of difference in the lift of cakes and cookies and if you’re going to the trouble of making something homemade, you may as well stack the deck in your favor by using the freshest ingredients.

It’s not necessary to make your own applesauce but given how quick and easy it is, why not? I leave the apple skins on because I like the rosy color red-skinned apples give applesauce (and now I know it adds to the fragrance and Vitamin C content, too). Run the applesauce through a food mill to remove the skins or if, like me, you don’t a mill, mash the soft apples through a strainer for the same results.

Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups unsweetened applesauce
½ cups walnuts (optional), toasted, cooled and chopped

Frosting
5 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the middle. Butter an 8 – 9 inch square cake pan.

Make the applesauce (optional)
3 – 4 pounds apples, with or without skins, cored and cut into chunky pieces
2 or 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
Sprinkle of cinnamon, to taste
1 cup of water
Pinch of salt

Put all the ingredients into a large pot. Cover and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 – 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and mash apples with a potato masher if you like chunky sauce or put through a food mill if you prefer a smooth sauce and/or left the peels on the apples.

Make the cake
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined, then stir in walnuts (if using).

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until golden-brown and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Reinvert cake onto a rack to cool completely.

Make the frosting

Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Sift confectioners sugar and cinnamon over cream cheese mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated.

Spread frosting over top of cooled cake.

Serves 6

Calvados Applesauce with Butter Walnut Crumbs

Fall finally feels like it’s here for keeps; the temperature has dropped enough that I need a light jacket to run around town in,
 

the shadows are growing longer, the daylight growing softer, and the ornamental grasses in the park have donned their tassels.

On Saturday at the Tribeca farmers market my favorite edible sign of fall, apples, was out in full force.

I eat an apple every (week)day pretty much without fail. I’m a creature of habit when it comes to eating (see my egg post) and when I’m at work I have an apple around 3:00 or 4:00 because A) it’s good for me and B) I’m always hungry.

I buy my apples from Terhune Orchard on Saturdays at Union Square throughout the winter, spring, and summer because their apples always retain their crisp texture. I’ve tried buying from other farmers and I hate to say it but they often disappoint; their apples are usually soft and mealy, which is just horrible in an apple. Part of an apple's appeal is biting into it and hearing a snappy crunch...

What sets Terhune apples apart is the way they are stored; in addition to keeping them in cold storage at a low temperature (common practice on farms), the room is also equipped to maintain the air’s oxygen concentration at low levels (not so common). Both these factors combined vastly increase the life of an apple.

But it’s fall now so it doesn’t matter which farm I buy my apples from; they are all fresh off the tree, crisp, and delicious. Prospect Hill Orchard comes to the Tribeca farmers market from Ulster County, NY and has a nice selection of apples, including heirloom and organic, as well as the usual suspects.

For the past month I’ve been hoping to cook or bake something with apples but have failed miserably; there never seems to be enough hours in the day. On Saturday morning Ruth Reichl’s tweet sent me over the edge: “Silver sky. Storm’s end. Baking bread perfumes the house with its warm, brown scent as apples, butter, Calvados melt into chunky sauce.”

That’s it; apples here I come! I’m starting with an applesauce dessert and who knows what will be next. Stay tuned.

Applesauce with Butter Walnut Crumbs
Adapted from Gourmet, December 2004

This is so easy! No excuses, people!

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon finely chopped pecans or walnuts
1 slice firm white sandwich bread with crust, coarsely ground in a food processor (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup bottled chunky applesauce (I made me own; see below)

Garnish: lightly sweetened whipped cream

Heat butter in an 8-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then cook nuts and bread crumbs with a pinch of salt, stirring constantly, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes.

Spoon applesauce into a goblet or other glass, then sprinkle with crumb mixture.

Calvados Applesauce
Adapted from Gourmet, January 2003

Given whom the tweet came from, I knew exactly where to find a Calvados applesauce recipe. I went to Gourmet online and there it was.

I doubled the recipe and halved the amount of sugar originally called for. I also used Golden Delicious apples because the Gala’s had sold out by the time I got to the stand.

I’m sure you can leave the Calvados out if you want but I found it added a nice depth of flavor.

1 lb Gala apples
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons Calvados

Peel and core apples, then cut into 1-inch pieces. Bring apples, water, sugar, zest, and cinnamon to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, 15 minutes.

Remove lid and simmer until most of liquid is evaporated, 5 to 10 minutes. Add Calvados and simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 minute. Mash apples with a potato masher or a fork to a coarse sauce, then cool.