Spiced Applesauce CakeIf any of you are dog people you know that when it comes time to a weekend away there's more to it than packing your bags and hopping in the car. There's usually only a few options for a doggy-sitter and if those don't work out it's usually off to doggy-camp for a couple nights which less than ideal in many ways.
If you happen to be in sales, you know it takes more than a couple of kick ass labs to lure someone into a night at Casa de Goody - in this case, outright bribery and the excuse of a play date with Rufus the Wonder Mutt.
So, this one's for you CB - a truly tasty treat from a blog I was introduced to last week, the smitten kitchen. Check out this great blog for lots of information on cooking, baking, blogging and lots more... here's the link
This recipe is very simple and as mentioned in my bread making post, I'm not the most adept baker in the world. So this time I brought in the all-star baker... The Lady!
We started off by pre-heating the oven to 350F and buttering a 8x8 baking pan.
Next we mixed the dry ingredients, the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ground ginger and cloves, and set aside.
Then came the "wet" ingredients - in a separate bowl and with an electric mixer, we mixed together the butter (room temp), brown sugar and vanilla. After a few minutes on high and when the mixture became smooth we added the eggs, mixing them in one at a time. Next came the applesauce.
After the applesauce was mixed in we added the flour mixture. We added it about a 1/4 at a time to make sure we got it thoroughly mixed.
The batter, which was really tasty (you probably shouldn't eat much of this raw b/c of the eggs but I live life on the edge sometimes...) then goes into the pan and into the oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick, or in our case, a steak knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.
The frosting was super easy - the cream cheese, butter and vanilla get beaten together for a couple minutes on high until creamy. Then sift in the confection sugar and mix well. Now this, on the other hand, can be licked right out of the bowl if you are so inclined. We managed kept our heads out of the bowl but the mixing paddles were somehow very clean before they got to the sink ;)
Let the cake completely cool (the worst part... seriously, it feels like forever) and turn it out onto a plate or cake platter. Frost to your liking (let's be honest... liberally) and there you have it.
This cake is really tasty and came out 100x's better than my whole what bread.
So remember readers, if you're ever looking for someone to kick it with your pups while you getaway for a weekend, don't forget, leverage is a very handy sales pitch!
PS - I'm working on my photography and apologize for the composition/lighting in some of these shots - the cake really doesn't have a yellow tinge to it... any tips are greatly appreciated. I may need to bite bullet and get an external flash...
Up Next: Hmmmmmm...
