Applesauce Cake recipe from 1800

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This 226-year-old Applesauce Cake recipe appeared in ‘The Homemaker’s Comrade’, a cookbook of home tested recipes compiled by the Kingsmill-Mapleton Women’s Institute, published in 1800.



INGREDIENTS

  • 7 tablespoons unsalted butter (100g)
  • 1 cup sugar (200g)
  • 1 ¼ cups cold applesauce, unsweetened (296ml)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (240g)
  • 1 ¾ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 cup raisins (150g)

Note: All ingredients should be at room temperature unless otherwise stated.


Method:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C
  • Grease and line one 8-inch layer cake pan (or 9-inch, or 8x8-inch)

  1. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.
  2. Add applesauce. Beat well.
  3. Sift flour, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves into a separate bowl. Mix until well combined.
  4. Stir flour mixture into applesauce mixture.
  5. Fold in rasins.
  6. Spoon batter into prepared pan.
  7. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F/175°C for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes away clean.
  8. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then fully cool on a cake rack.
  9. Once fully cooled, dust the top with icing sugar if desired.
  10. Cut, serve, and enjoy. :)

Notes: 

  • The bake times may vary based on the pan size. Keep an eye on it.
  • There are no eggs in this recipe and the butter can easily be replace by a vegan shortening to make it a vegan dessert.
  • The original recipe simple says “Salt, spice to taste.” I used spices and measurements similar to other applesauce cakes of the era.
Original recipe from 1800:

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