First Prize Applesauce Cake With Caramel Frosting Recipes

Steps:

• Sift together flour, soda, salt, spices and cocoa.
• Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine oil and sugar.
• Beat until well blended.
• Stir in hot applesauce and blend thoroughly.
• Add dry ingredients, blending well.
• Stir in nuts.
• Turn batter into well greased and floured 9" x 13" pan.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes; then reduce temperature to 375 degrees and bake about 15 minutes longer.
• Cool completely.
• Caramel Frosting:
• Melt 1/2 c butter in sauce pan over low heat.
• Stir in 1 c brown sugar, firmly packed, and 1/4 tsp salt.
• Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil hard for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat.
• Stir in 1/4 c milk.
• Return pan to heat and bring to a full boil.
• Remove from heat; cool to lukewarm.
• Stir in 2 c confectioner's sugar, and beat until smooth.
• If frosting is too thick, beat in a little milk.

Steps:

• Cake:.
• Cream the butter (1 cup) for the cake; gradually add 2 cups sugar, beating well at medium speed of an electric mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Combine flour and next 6 cake ingredients in a bowl. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the applesauce, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix after each addition,
• Stir in raisins and pecans.
• Pour batter into a greased and floured 13x9x2 inch baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before frosting.
• Frosting:.
• Combine the brown sugar, butter, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
• Add milk; cook over low heat 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and let cool.
• Add powdered sugar, and beat with a wooden spoon to spreading consistency.

Steps:

• Cake:.
• Set oven to 350 to preheat.
• Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
• Sift together flour, cocoa, salt, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, baking soda and baking powder.
• Add fruit and nuts and toss to coat.
• In large bowl cream shortening and sugar for 2 minutes, then add eggs, one at a time while beating 2 minutes.
• Add flour mixture alternately with applesauce while beating.
• Scrape bowl as necessary, beat only until blended.
• Turn into pan and bake for 50 minutes or until done.
• Cool and frost with Caramel Frosting.
• Frosting:.
• Melt butter in saucepan, stir in brown sugar.
• Cook and stir over low heat for 2 minutes.
• Add milk, continue stirring until boiling.
• Remove from heat.
• Cool to lukewarm and pour into small bowl.
• Add sugar and vanilla while beating.
• Beat about 2 minutes until spreading consistency.
• Adjust consistency with a few drops of hot water or more sugar as needed.
• Spread at once on cake.

Steps:

• Make the cake:
• In a large bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter, add the sugars, a little at a time, and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the applesauce and the egg. Into the butter mixture sift together the flour, the baking soda, the cinnamon, the nutmeg, and the cloves, stir the mixture until it is combined, and add the vanilla, the oats, and the coated raisins. Stir the batter until it is combined well, divide it between 2 well-buttered 8-inch round cake pans, and bake the cake layers in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Turn the layers out onto racks and let them cool completely.
• Make the frosting:
• In a heavy saucepan combine the brown sugar, the butter, the milk, and a pinch of salt, bring the mixture to a boil over moderate heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, and cook it, undisturbed, until it registers 234°F. on a candy thermometer. Let the mixture cool to room temperature and whisk it until it is thickened, lightened in color, and beginning to lose its sheen.
• Working quickly, before the frosting begins to harden and crystallize, frost the top of 1 of the cake layers, top it with the other layer, and frost the top and side of the cake. (If the frosting becomes too hard to spread, reheat it over low heat, stirring, until it is of spreading consistency and let it cool.)
• Make pink applesauce:
• In a large heavy saucepan combine the apples, 1/2 cup water, the lemon juice, and the sugar, bring the liquid to a boil, and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes, or until the apples are very tender. Force the mixture through a food mill fitted with the fine disk into a bowl. Serve the applesauce warm or chilled. Makes about 4 cups.