Nora's Chocolate Spice Applesauce Cake

Before Hawaii: a story and recipe from The Baking Wizard!

~ by Guest Writer: Nora McDougall-Collins, Greg's Geeky Sidekick

This adaptation of a recipe from the 1959 Farm Journal Country Cookbook makes a great gift for holiday giving.

A Historic Recipe

When I was a teen, my Mother had the Farm Journal's Country Cookbook. I looked at it some, but I wasn't all that interested in cooking at that time in my life. I didn't realize that in 1959, the adults in my world were still livingout the effects of WWII. My Mom's family were farmers, so their stories were more about trying to get tires for tractors and providing a safe haven for displaced persons, rather than war stories. They had their own cooking tradition, which included 'chili soup' with macaroni, hamburger, vegetables and some chili powder. For those who are used to local chilies, powdered or roasted, this soup would not have won any chili cook-off. Where they excelled was in baking. The original recipe (page 359)  for the adaptation below is titled "First Prize Apple Sauce Cake" for a time when the "official" competitions available to farm wives were County and State Fairs. For many, local fairs no longer mean a flurry of cookery, sewing and gardening, but the cake is still wonderful, both in memory and in reality.

... Is Still Current

I found the recipe in the book after my Mother passed it along to me. Most years, generous neighbors gifted us with surplus apples from their trees, and, like the long line of farm women in my family, I canned 50+ quarts of applesauce each season from their bounty. One year, a neighbor gave us some rather unpalatable transparent apples. They were large, but even with additional sugar, the applesauce was unpleasant. That is, it was unpleasant until it was added to the cake. This year, I was given apples from 4 different types of trees, some tart, some very sweet. The cake was a bit different with each type of apple, but the comments have been warm and generous for each batch.