Healthy Snack Cake

The other day I noticed a little bit of homemade applesauce and some home-pureed pumpkin leftover in the fridge. I wanted to make something with them before they went bad. Five year old Lil and I had just made muffins for a meal so we wanted something a little different and came up with this cake. The batter is made in a single bowl for easy cleanup. Kids are great helpers for this recipe because there are no special techniques - just measure, dump in the ingredients and mix.

The ingredient list is adaptable to any fruit puree you might have around including pearsauce, applesauce, mashed banana or pumpkin puree. If baking with a child, ask them which spices they would like to match with the fruits used. Take their suggestions and you might both be surprised by how lovely a new combination tastes.

With minimal fat and extra fiber from the whole wheat flour and fruit, this is a cake I don't mind serving as a snack.

[print_this]Snack Cake

10 minutes cooking, 20-25 minutes baking

makes 9 servings

3/4 cup fruit puree (applesauce, mashed banana, pear sauce, pumpkin puree, etc.)

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup King Arthur white whole wheat flour

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup softened butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sweet spices such as cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg or a mixture

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

1. Add all ingredients to a stand mixer bowl or large bowl.

2. Mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer on low for 30 seconds.

3. Increase speed to high and mix for three minutes.

4. Pour into buttered and floured 8x8 inch pan.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Frigidare just launched a family friendly website Make Time for Change. In addition to sharing recipes and tips on cooking with kids, they are donating $1 to Save the Children for all new visits to their site. Frigidare and my ad network, Foodbuzz, are donating an additional $50 for this post. Score for Save the Children!

Added to Hearth and Soul Volume 32.

Make it Yourself: Applesauce

Apples are my favorite fruit.  They keep well, are crunchy and sweet, travel easily, and are completely delicious. Being that we live in the land of Johnny Appleseed, Ohio apples are in abundance from June - October.  We pick bushels (literally) and eat apples fresh, dried, and sauced.

Applesauce is easy and tasty to make yourself.  There are several methods, all involving these four simple steps:

1) Core and peel (optional) apples.  Add spices or lemon juice (to preserve color) if you wish.

2) Stew on stove top with a bit of water for 30 minutes or oven at 200 degrees for 2 hours

3) Puree with blender, potato masher, or food mill

4) Store in freezer containers or can in glass jars (20 minutes canning time for quarts, 15 for pints, fill to 1/4 inch)

Personally, we make two varieties each year.  Method A (my sisters' favorite) is to peel and core the apples, chop finely, and stew on the stove.  This makes an evenly textured sauce called 'chunky applesauce' in my family.  The other, easier variety is 'smooth applesauce' made by coring and slicing in one step with an apple slicer, stewing on the stove, then processing with a food mill.  I prefer stove top stewing vs. oven baking because it is faster and the less cooking for the apples, the less nutritional value lost.

We just made smooth applesauce with the Liberty apples from Charlie's farm.  The peels, even though we discarded them after milling, made the applesauce bright pink!  It was so tasty we needed no sweetener.  If I can bring myself to share my stash, I might give some of the Liberty pink sauce as Xmas gifts.  Can't you just see a jar topped with a pretty pink and green holiday fabric? :)