 |
Recipes like this are the reason we initially started The Keenan Cookbook; to archive and share our family recipes. Rachel and I have expanded upon that idea over the past year, enjoying this hobby together, cooking new dishes, photographing them, meeting other food bloggers. But at the fundamental level, our website still retains that original mission; archiving our family recipes.
I love when recipes have a story, memory, or association with them. I’ve shared some of those associations (Panera French Onion Soup or Apple Cider Muffins). This Applesauce Cake will always be associated with my Grandmother, Nana.
That’s me with Nana. Featured is her family famous Applesauce Cake. Would you believe that at 92 years of age (yesterday was her birthday!) she is still baking? Applesauce Cake and Chocolate Chip Cookies are her most common go-to recipes these days, as they’re not only quick and easy to make, but also her most requested from all of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Baby Boy is too young to appreciate Nana’s baking, but he loves sitting on her lap and bouncing away.
Nana baked this applesauce cake for me because she knows I love it. I always tell her not to go to the trouble, but she enjoys baking and sharing with her family. She learned this recipe from her mother, who was an off-the-boat Italian (literally – she learned to walk on the boat). My great grandmother cooked and baked. Nana and my Mom bake. I bake. Some day, I hope, Baby Boy will bake too. And so on it goes, recipes passing along from one family member to the next.
Nana told me she used to put this cake in the oven right before her soap opera , All My Children, came on and that she would take it out an hour later when the show ended. That’s how she knew when it was done. Well, they took that show off the air last month (Nana had been watching it since it first started in 1970) but Nana still bakes – she uses the oven timer now. 
We aren’t the type of family to keep our recipes locked away, only accessible after years of patient waiting and a swearing to secrecy (but if you really want I’ll teach you the secret handshake). We like to share, as good food is meant to be. So today, on Nana’s birthday, we share this very special recipe from a very special lady. We wish Nana good health and good happiness, and perhaps, if she doesn’t mind, more Applesauce Cake in the year to come. Happy Birthday Nana!
Recipe: Nana’s Applesauce Cake
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 1 ½ cup apple sauce (Nana recommends one with Apple chunks in it)
- 1 cup raisins
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup nuts (optional)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Mix in egg and vanilla.
- Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
- Turn into a well buttered loaf pan and bake one hour, until toothpick comes out clean.
Cooking time: 1 hour(s)
|
Subscribe to Email Updates
Welcome to The Keenan Cookbook! We're your hosts Chris & Rachel. 
Loving apples right now! This sounds awesome with the applesauce…I’m sure the texture is outstanding!
Yes! Especially if you use the applesauce with the chunks of apple in it. Mmmm…
sounds delicious! i love that y’all are so open about sharing your treasured family recipes, + stories about the recipes, with all of us. happy birthday to your amazing baking nana!
Thanks Amy! I believe good food should be shared
I’m loving the image of your nana timing her applesauce cake to All my Children. Be a good grandson and buy her the DVDs so she doesn’t have to use the oven timer!!
We offered to get her an iPad and internet so she could watch them online. She told us to “get out of here” – I think she’d get a kick out of it though. So would her friends
I like that you are making about family recipes. She looks great for 92 yrs old!
Thanks Helene! And she’s still as sharp as when I was a little boy. She always catches you if you mutter something under your breath
Love this post! Your Nana must be the sweetest! I live far away from my grandmother and miss her something awful. Thanks for sharing the recipe, it looks delicious.
Thanks Miss
We count ourselves lucky and blessed that Nana lives so close and is in good health. Love that Baby Boy gets the chance to visit with her.
Looks delicious! It’s nice to have Nana nearby.
wow! She looks great! That is awesome that she’s still baking. Grandma’s are great for baking inspiration, aren’t they?
My Grandma passed many years ago, but I still here her every time I beat egg whites 
Does this cake freeze well? Looks like it might.
Grandma’s are indeed great inspiration for baking. I think that’s great that you are reminded of her when you beat egg whites. It’s those little memories like that that keep our loved ones in our thoughts long after they have left us.
This cake does indeed freeze well. We usually cut the cake up and freeze portions, so we can enjoy over the weeks.
I adore recipes passed down through generations, they are always delicious! Your Grandmother’s Applesauce Cake looks very appealing, especially now during apple harvest time. And I’m planning on making applesauce next week, perfect timing!