Apple Sauce Cake

The house has smelled wonderful ever since we got back form apple-picking. This is definitely one of the reasons that Autumn my favourite season.

Thought that I would share with you one of my favourite apple-recipes in case you want to make your home smell yummie, too!

This is from The Ontario Harvest Cookbook by Julia Aitken and Anita Stewart

Chunky Brown-Sugar Applesauce Cake with Caramel Sauce

Cake:
1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C softened butter
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C cake and pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon (or even a little more, and a dash of nutmeg)
1 C applesauce

Topping:
1/2 C chopped walnuts (I prefer pecans, myself)
2 tbsp brown sugar

Caramel Sauce:
2 C packed brown sugar
3 tbsp corn starch
1 1/2 C boiling water
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture alternately with applesauce, until no dry spots remain. Spoon batter evenly into a greased 9-inch square pan.

In a small bowl combine the nuts and sugar for the topping. Sprinkle evenly over the batter. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Serve warm or let it cool completely in the pan.

Now really, you can stop right here. It is a wonderfully moist and not too un-healthy snack cake, with a mild cinnamon taste and nice crunchy nut and brown sugar topping. But if you really want to be decadent, go ahead and make the caramel sauce...

In a large heavy sauce pan combine brown sugar and corn starch. Cook, stirring, over medium heat, for 10 - 12 minutes, until the sugar melts and the mixture is golden brown. Remove from heat. Carefully and at arms length, pour in boiling water. The mixture will hiss and sputter. Return the saucepan to heat, stirring to dissolve any lumps of caramelized sugar. Add butter, vanilla and cinnamon. Turn off heat. Continue stirring until caramelized sugar is completely dissolved. If any lumps remain, strain sauce through a sieve. Let cool slightly. cut cake into squares and serve with caramel sauce poured over top. Any leftover sauce can be refrigerated in a covered container for up to 2 weeks.

Enjoy!