Applesauce Cake

My grandmother would make this delicious cake for me and I thought I would share it. I added dried figs and cherries because they looked so amazing in the store and that's the beauty of this cake, it's wonderful for the fall and winter because any dried fruit will be tasty!

Ingredients:
Cake-
2 cups chunky applesauce
2 cups brown sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 dried figs
1/4 golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons Amarula (or Bailey's or any cream liquor)

Glaze-
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/3 cup of butter
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla (or maple extract)
2-3 tablespoons water

To start off preheat the oven to 350. Cream the butter and add the sugar. Mix in one egg at a time and the vanilla until fluffy. In another bowl sift the flour, baking soda, and salt.It's important to sift not only because it mixes the dry ingredients, it also refines the flour making your cake silky soft.

I like to add in the spices when the wet and dry ingredients have been mixed, but if you want you can mix them in the sifted flour mixture. Then add the applesauce one cup a time to the creamed butter sugar, alternating between the dry mix and applesauce. The applesauce makes this cake extra moist and the chunks of apples in the cake are just so sweet!

Now you will need to fold in the dried fruit and nuts. I like to add Amarula, a sweet liquor made from Elephant fruit to the mix, but if that is unavailable, Bailey's or any cream liquor will do.

Use an 11 inch bundt pan that has been greased and floured, This is especially important because when you let the cake cool, you want it to easily slide out of the pan! Pop it in the oven for 40-45 minutes, Be sure not to over bake! When the top is firm but still puffs back up after touching, the cake is ready!

Let it cool for at least an hour. About a couple minutes before sliding the cake out of the pan, get your glaze going. Melt the butter in a medium sized pot and then add the sugar, one cup at a time, whisking them together, add the vanilla and a table spoon of water at a time until you reach a glaze consistency that you like, I prefer a little heavier glaze but the more water you add the lighter the glaze will be. You can also use maple extract if you want that fall flavor to you cake, but I would only put a teaspoon in and taste before adding the other 1/4 teaspoon! Now you just have to slide the cake out of the bundt pan, drizzle your glaze over the cake, garnish with some chopped nuts and whole dried figs and you have a delicious, moist, fall and winter cake!