How to Make Chocolate Applesauce Cake

The first time I helped my mother make this cake, I had to stand on a chair in order to reach the counter. It has been my favorite ever since. It is an incredibly simple recipe for an incredibly rich, moist single layer chocolate cake.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Baking pan, 9 inch square
• Sifter
• 1 1/2 cups Flour
• 3/4 cups Sugar
• 1/4 cups Cocoa
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 cup Applesauce
• 1/2 cup Water
• 1 Egg
• 1/3 cup Cooking Oil
• 1 tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. Mace
• Confectioners Sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the baking pan. If you have non-stick oven pans, then you are ready to go. If you normally grease and flour the pan when baking, grease it now. Instead of using flour in the pan, however, sprinkle a bit of powered cocoa and spread that around instead. When your pan is prepared, set it to one side.
2. Place the sifter on a dinner plate and measure the dry ingredients into it. This will include the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt and ground mace. Do Not sift it yet.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the applesauce, cooking oil, vinegar and vanilla. If you don't have Apple Cider vinegar, plain white vinegar will work just fine. Fill a measuring cup with 1/2 cup of water, add the egg and beat together. Add the egg/water into the mixing bowl and combine thoroughly.
4. Sift the dry ingredients directly into the mixing bowl (about 1/3 of the dry ingredients at a time), and stir until the dry ingredients are moistened. If you are using an electric hand mixer, keep the speed on low. Mix ONLY enough to blend the ingredients together.
5. What you should see: A rich batter which is the color of a mug of hot cocoa. There will probably be small bubbles forming beneath the surface of the batter. That means that the vinegar and baking soda have started to react to each other which is what gives this cake it's lift. Perfect!
6. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan and pop it into the oven for 30-35 minutes.
7. When the time is up, test to be sure it's done by poking a toothpick into the center. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. If the toothpick comes out with batter or gummy cake stuck to it, give it 5-10 more minutes in the oven before taking it out to cool.
8. When the cake has cooled, it should pop right out. Cut it into 3 inch squares and sprinkle it with confectioners sugar as a garnish.

Tips & Warnings

• My mom fiddled with this recipe for years, so don't be afraid to try changes of your own. Perhaps you would like to use nutmeg or cinnamon instead of mace, or almond extract rather than vanilla (both yummy choices, by the way!).
• Do NOT let the batter sit out before putting it in the oven. The vinegar and baking soda have a limited reaction time, so if all of the bubbles rise to the top before you put it in to bake, you will be left with a very dense (but still tasty) cake in the end.