by Paul Cormier, Salamanders of Kemptville
With minus temperatures this morning and frost on the pumpkins, our thoughts start to turn towards the upcoming festive season. Gone are the days when stores would start putting out their Christmas inventory after 11 November. Now, everyone gets on the bandwagon even before Hallowe’en has taken place. Since today’s recipe is one that “keeps” and is a family favourite, let’s go with Applesauce Gumdrop Cake.
Applesauce Gumdrop Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup of shortening
- 1 cup of white granulated sugar
- 2 cups of flour
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup of applesauce
- 1 cup of raisins
- An 18 ounce bag of fresh gumdrops
- 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and vanilla extract
Preparation
- Pre-heat your oven to 350F
- Cream the shortening, sugar and cinnamon, then add the eggs, applesauce and vanilla
- Add the flour to the mixture along with the nutmeg, baking soda and powder
- Dust the gumdrops and raisins with a bit of flour in a separate bowl
- Then, fold the gumdrops and raisins into your mixture
- Pour into a loaf pan that you have lined with parchment paper or sprayed with oil
- Bake for about an hour or until your probe comes out clean
This cake benefits from aging a bit. So, once cool, you can wrap it in plastic film, then in aluminum foil and store in a cool dry place. If you live in the country as we do and the mice are starting to come in for the winter, you might store your cake in a biscuit tin. Dollarama also has some spiffy containers of various sizes for your home pantry. You can freeze this cake for use later in the winter or closer to Christmas. This cake looks nice on your festive season display plate of goodies and also has quite a distinctive flavour.
All the best from Paul at pcormier@ranaprocess.com.
