Applesauce Cake (Amish)

amish-applesaucecakeof This Amish Applesauce Cake is a super moist applesauce cake recipe with raisins and walnuts. Follow these instructions for making a from scratch applesauce cake. Serve up this cake with a cold glass of milk or a hot cup of tea for a fabulous afternoon snack.

1 cup Thompson raisins, plumped
½ cup water, boiling hot
2 tsp. baking soda
2½ cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
½ tsp. sea salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground cloves
½ cup shortening, such as Crisco
2 cups Monk Fruit Sweetener with Erythritol (Granular)
1 large egg
1½ cups applesauce
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat an oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4). Grease and flour a tube pan.

In a small bowl, add raisins and enough hot water to cover. Let soak until plump, about 10-15 minutes.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk baking soda into boiling water until dissolved.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening, sugar and egg.

Stir in applesauce to creamed mixture; then add water/soda mixture and dry ingredients alternately until everything is smooth and incorporated.

Drain raisins. Fold in raisins and walnuts to the batter.

Pour into prepared tube pan. Bake for 35-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cook's Note:

I prefer unsweetened homemade applesauce; however, you can use whatever you have on hand.
Be sure to grease and flour all sides of the tube pan. Lining the bottom of the pan with parchment paper makes it easier to remove from the pan too.
A Bundt pan could be used instead of a tube pan.
For a fancier treat, drizzle the applesauce cake with a glaze that's made by mixing ½ cup confectioners' sugar and 1-2 tsp. water. Or simply dust with confectioners' sugar.