Recipes

Applesauce Cake

Recipe No. 58 from the U.S. Army's WWII cookbook — Cakes and Cookies. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Army TM10-412 · Cake · Desserts

Serves 15¼ pounds mixture, 100 servings, each 3⅓ by 2⅓ by 1 inches.
View source — TM 10-412 Army Recipes (War Department, 1944) ↗

Recipe No. 58 from the U.S. Army’s WWII cookbook — Cakes and Cookies. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Ingredients

  • Shortening — 1¾ pounds (⅞ No. 56 dipper)
  • Sugar, granulated — 3¼ pounds (1⅛ No. 56 dippers)
  • Eggs — 9 eggs (½ No. 56 dipper)
  • Flour, sifted — 3½ pounds (3½ No. 56 dippers)
  • Baking powder — 1¼ ounces (3⅓ mess kit spoons)
  • Baking soda — ¾ ounce (1½ mess kit spoons)
  • Salt — ½ ounce (1 mess kit spoon)
  • Cinnamon — ½ ounce (2 mess kit spoons)
  • Cloves, ground — ¼ ounce (1 mess kit spoon)
  • Applesauce — 2¼ quarts (2¼ No. 56 dippers)
  • Raisins — 1¾ pounds (1⅓ No. 56 dippers)

Directions

Key ingredients

Baking Soda & Baking Powder · Cinnamon

  1. Stir shortening until soft and smooth.
  2. Add sugar gradually; mix thoroughly.
  3. Add unbeaten eggs a few at a time, beating after each addition until well mixed. Beat thoroughly at this stage to insure a light tender cake.
  4. Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves together twice.
  5. Add dry ingredients and applesauce alternately to egg and sugar mixture, first adding about ⅓ dry ingredients, then ½ applesauce, then another ⅓ dry ingredients, and remaining applesauce and dry ingredients. Add raisins with last amount of dry ingredients.
  6. Mix thoroughly but avoid overmixing.
  7. Place in greased sheet pans. Bake in moderate oven (350° F.) 30 to 35 minutes or until done.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Shortening — 2¼ oz Sugar, granulated — 4¼ oz Eggs — ¾ eggs Flour, sifted — 4½ oz Baking powder — about ⅔ tsp Baking soda — about ⅓ tsp Salt — a pinch Cinnamon — a pinch Cloves, ground — a pinch Applesauce — 11½ tbsp Raisins — 2¼ oz

This recipe makes two sheet pans (18 by 26 by 1 inches) or seven loaf pans (9⅞ by 4¼ by 2¾ inches). Serve cake plain or frost with lemon or banana butter cream frosting (recipes Nos. 93 or 91).

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 58, Cakes and Cookies. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.