We Love New York State Apples, Applesauce Cake Recipe

Cornell Orchards
I was just out enjoying the well deserved sunshine and looking over my apple trees. I noticed that it looks like a good year for apples so far. The trees are covered with hundreds of gumball sized apples. It's a sure sign of good things to come. In an area known for apples, inspiration and good apples are pretty easy to come by.
The Rogues' Harbor Inn loves apples. It's obvious when you look at our menu offerings. We have the Big Apple Salad which has fresh greens topped with Empire Apples, Bleu cheese, celery, walnuts & our own house soy ginger dressing. There's the popular Finger Lakes Harvest appetizer which offers a sampling of local fare: NY Natural Chevon summer sausage, Finger Lakes Farmstead Bier Meck cheese, homemade crostini & fresh Empire apple slices. I like both of those with Bellwether Hard Cider on draught or Treleaven Chardonnay. In the fall we offer Apple Onion Chicken with pan seared chicken tossed in a ginger brandied apple, onion, walnut & raisin dressing with homemade smashed potatoes. We even sometimes make apple soups- usually in the fall... For dessert we love to serve our homemade apple crisp with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. We are thinking about making cider ice for dessert, too this week for the hot days ahead.
Day dreaming about the apple harvest made me hunt for a recipe I haven't baked in a long time. It's too hot today to bake, but file this one away for later. It's best served at breakfast with apple butter, or for dessert with a big scoop of Purity French Vanilla ice cream.

Apple Sauce Cake:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups applesauce
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter & sugar. Add well beaten egg & vanilla. Then add nuts, raisins, applesauce & well mixed and sifted dry ingredients. Turn into buttered loaf pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

This is a good one, old fashioned Finger Lakes flavor. We serve it in our bed and breakfast with Amish apple butter & Gimme coffee. It's a great way to start the day. It's the best when made with homemade NYS apple sauce. I'll post our recipe for that another time and a few other apple recipes. In the meantime, enjoy summer in the Finger Lakes and have a glass of wine. Days like today remind why I love to live here.

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