Applesauce Cake with Caramel Icing (Tennessee Ernie's Mom's Cake)
From the kitchen of By Ellen Hawks, The Baltimore Sun (newspaper clipping, via Sally Hayes)
Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter or shortening
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups applesauce
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
2 cups raisins
for caramel icing: 1 cup brown sugar, 6 Tbsp cream or milk, 1 Tbsp butter, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°.
Sift flour, spices, and baking soda together; set aside.
Cream sugar and butter; add eggs one at a time.
Add dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the applesauce.
Fold in the walnuts and raisins.
Bake in a greased 9x13-inch pan for 40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
When cool, frost with caramel icing.
For the icing, boil brown sugar, cream, and butter in a saucepan; when the brown sugar is completely dissolved, remove from heat and add vanilla and powdered sugar.
Beat with an electric mixer until the frosting is the right consistency to spread.
Serves 12-16. Newspaper column notes it was submitted as the recipe Tennessee Ernie Ford said his mother made, as heard on a television show.