Grandmommy's Applesauce Spice Cake

The women in my family were such amazing role models for me as a youngster (and still are today!). They were all independent people, filled with self-respect, busily working and volunteering for social causes they were passionate about... It's really amazing to reflect on.

just a small percentage of her various activities and skills

My grandma was a particularly great example in so many ways. She was deeply passionate about the environment, population control, Macintosh computers, and much more. She was a total do-it-yourselfer long before that was even a thing. She painted walls, developed black and white film, sewed like a seamstress, put up wallpaper, canned no-sugar applesauce, silkscreened tee shirts and posters, wrote newsletters, worked in the garden, jogged or swam every day... and the list goes on.

That said, one thing the ladies in my family weren't busy doing was baking cakes and cookies all the time. I was coming home from school to boxes of Historical Society newsletters that needed to have address labels stuck on them, not to plates of cookies. So, when someone did take the time to bake a goodie, it was most definitely a super special occasion.

There was this one, totally delicious Applesauce Spice Cake that my grandma made for pretty much every family birthday party or celebration. I remember this cake being The Cake that was always there ~ at every party and that everyone was happy about. As my mom put it, "It was the default." ha ha. I've thought a lot about that cake in recent years. What was it exactly? What was that recipe?

It turned out so totally perfectly

So, I asked my aunt Laura to look through Grandmommy's old cookbooks and see what she could find. Laura found a few different touching tidbits - recipes with stars next to them, little notes, and handwritten recipes. But, when she found my grandma's copy of The Joy Of Cooking, "the book pretty much fell open to the Applesauce Cake recipe." Aha!

My mom and Laura were telling me that spice cakes have been a popular choice in our family going back since well before my time. My mom and dad even had a spice cake at their wedding!

complete with coffee-flavored frosting & rainbow candles!

So, Laura scanned the page and sent it to me. You can see the same recipe online here. It is a great recipe and almost effortless to veganize (only one egg? no problemo!). This weekend was my aunt Laura's birthday, and also it was my Grandpa's birthday, because they have the same birthday. So, in honor of both of them, I made Grandmommy's Applesauce Spice Cake! Plus, I even used my own homemade no-sugar applesauce. And, I made her super-special coffee frosting (see below).  DAMN, that stuff is good.

My aunt Laura and my mom and dad came over in the afternoon and we had a little mini-birthday party with spice cake and coffee. It was such a sweet and delicious walk down memory lane to taste this cake again after so many years, especially in the company of my family - which made the memory even more perfect and complete. I don't know how long it's been, but it has been quite a while since I last had it. It's full of walnuts and raisins and warm spices and moisture, and it is just 100% delicious. Try it, I know you'll like it - and maybe it will become a new family classic for you too!

Grandmommy's Super Simple Coffee Frosting

This is not even a recipe. It just goes like this:

Pour some powdered sugar into a cereal bowl. Add a little vegan butter (I only used about 1 Tbsp). Add a tiny little pour of non-dairy milk. Add a 1/4-1/2 tsp instant coffee powder (I used about half of a Starbucks Via packet). Stir it all together. If it is too liquidy and the margarine won't mix in, add a bit more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add a tiny bit more milk. The texture is correct when the viscosity of the frosting is enough to integrate the margarine and it becomes thick but stir-able.