Mamaw Gilbert’s applesauce cake

This recipe was created by my mamaw Ethyl L. Gilbert during the depression. Background information provided by her son, Charles Gilbert Sr

My dad was one of the youngest of 8 children. He grew up after the great depression during WW2 … he and his brothers often went foraging for things like apples and berries that mamaw would can, since things were scarce and money was short. Papaw was a coal miner in the southern WV and KY coal fields. They moved from mine camp to mine camp and lived in coal company owned houses. At Christmas the coal companies would give the children a gift of 1 apple, 1 orange, a banana, a hand full of nuts and hard candies and a small toy. They often donated these same food items to the local church and the families would be given a similar bag of goodies at church. With 8 kids and 2 adults this allowed mamaw to gather enough items to make her apple sauce cake. She would crack the nuts during the day while the kids were at school. She baked the cake in a huge metal dish pan using a canning jar in the middle to make a hole similar to a tube/bunt pan. She would wrap half of the cake in a flour sack dish towel and store it in an old trunk, to keep the mice out, in an unheated room of the house (These were the days before refrigerators and families didn’t have much furniture. They also heated and cooked with coal burning stoves!) . One thing about this cake is that it is dense and heavy and the longer it sits the more moist and tasty it becomes… if it lasts that long lol. This is not a “fruit cake” or a “spice cake”, but rather a filling cake that came about during a time of hardship as a treat, using what they had available to use.

Mamaw didn’t have a recipe, per sey. She often used what she had canned, supplies readily available from the pantry such as the Christmas nuts and raisins, and there were no measurements when she made it. It was such a family favorite that the girls of the family sat down as she was making it one time and as she put the ingredients in a bowl they would removed the ingredients and measure them out individually so they could create the recipe below.

This is a half recipe because I doubt anyone has a huge metal dish pan anymore lol and is enough to make 2 bunt cakes (the full recipe made the equivalent of 4 bunt cakes!) , so if you only want one cake you will need to half the below recipe. I’ve decided to relate the recipe as it was written down all those years ago. I can honestly say I have never had a cake similar, nor have I see a recipe similar ever before, so I hope our family tradition is enjoyed by others and passed along to keep the tradition going. If you want to make the full recipe, remember to wrap the second cake in a flour sack dish towel and let it sit to become even better! Mamaw also said if you have wine (which was never allowed in her house) you can soak the dish towel in wine and then let the cake sit that way. Apparently (according to dad’s childhood memories) the cake will stay good for 2-3 months (wrapped in a dish towel kept in an unheated room in a trunk….) but honestly it never lasts that long at our house.

Without further adieu….. Mamaw’s apples sauce cake recipe!

3 cups warm applesauce

1 cup butter

3 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking soda

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1lb raisins (we like 1/2lb raisins and 1/2lb dried cherries as an alternative best)

3 tsp allspice

5 tablespoons cocoa

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups brazil nuts ( we usually cut these in half and the more nuts the merrier!)

Heat applesauce and butter together until butter is melted. Add baking soda and heat until bubbly. Stir in sugar. Pour into a large mixing bowl and add other ingredients, stirring well. Bake in a tube pan at 350 degrees for 1 hour 20-30 minutes. Cool and remove from pan. (remember this recipe is for 2 cakes so half the ingredients if you just want one cake!)