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This is another from my Grandmother’s recipe box (I’ve already posted her Pumpkin Bread) - and was one of my favorite cakes when I was young – and still is!  It reminds me of a sticky toffee pudding.  It is not a pretty dessert, but the flavor is amazing.  The texture is fun, too – a little crispy on top and moist and delicious inside.  The sauce really makes it though – you know it’s good when someone licks their plate!  (And it WASN’T me…I knew there was more Rum sauce in the kitchen!)

Apple Cake with Rum Sauce

Recipe:  Apple Cake with Rum Sauce, serves 15, cost $2.77 with sauce: $5.14

  • 2 cups sugar
    1/2 cup shortening or butter
    2 eggs
    2 cups flour
    1 teaspoon salt
    1 teaspoon nutmeg
    2 teaspoons cinnamon
    2 teaspoons baking soda
    5 cups apple, peeled and finely diced

Cream sugar and shortening, add eggs one at a time.  Mix dry ingredients and whisk together; add to sugar mixture.  Mix in apples.  This will look thick and strange – it’s ok, just forge ahead.

Spread in a 9 x 13 pan, bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  The top should look dried and a little darkened in places.  Test by pressing lightly on the top of the cake, when the indentation comes back up, the cake is done.

Notes:  This batter is really thick and you will have to spread it into the pan – you haven’t made a mistake!  This is the perfect recipe to use an apple/corer/slicer.

Money & Time Saving Strategies:

For pricing, remember to use your coupon matching sites for your local stores.  My favorite is Pocket Your Dollars in my area, but every store has a group of enthusiastic couponers who can point you to the best bargains.  Don’t be discouraged if your prices are higher at first – just keep shopping the best sales and follow the strategies and you’ll get there!  Check under Saving on Basic Ingredients for more detailed information and storage hints – use <control f> to search each page to bring you to the item you want to check out.

  • Use your apple/corer/peeler!  This recipe will always be least expensive in the fall, and often gadgets that have to do with apples are on sale then, too.
  • Apples:  89 cents a pound, I used five, averaging about 7 ounces each.  Cost: $1.94.
  • Shortening:  Not often used in the frugal kitchen, but this dessert, I feel, really benefits in texture.  You could use butter.
  • Sugar:  Stock up during the fall/winter Holidays, 2 cups is 42 cents.
  • Eggs:  Last bought 88 cents for 12, two are 15 cents
  • Flour:  Again, stock up during the Holidays:  2 cups 21 cents.
  • Spices and soda:  About 5 cents.

Nutrition:

Per Serving: 257 Calories; 8g Fat (26.9% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 45g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 28mg Cholesterol; 320mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fruit; 1 1/2 Fat; 2 Other Carbohydrates.

Recipe:  Rum Sauce, makes about 1 1/2 cups, cost:  $2.37

  • 1/2 cup butter
    1/2 cup cream
    1/2 cup sugar
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    1 teaspoon rum

Mix ingredients in saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Simmer 2 – 3 minutes until slightly thickened.  It will thicken more as it cools, and it should be loose.  You can flavor it with other flavors besides the rum.

Money and Time Saving Strategies:

  • All of these ingredients are cheaper in the fall right before the Thanksgiving Holiday.  Stock up on your Pantry Items then.
  • Butter:  Buy on sale and freeze:  cost: $1.00
  • Cream:  $1.89 for 1 cup:  cost: 95 cents (I’ll make butterscotch from  the rest or you could whip it and serve it with the cake.)  I haven’t tried, but I think you could be able to substitute evaporated milk in this.
  • Sugar:  21 cents for each, total 42 cents.

Nutrition:

Per Serving: 118 Calories; 8g Fat (60.6% calories from fat); trace Protein; 12g Carbohydrate; 0g Dietary Fiber; 24mg Cholesterol; 67mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1 1/2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.

Put Your own Spin on It:

Serve this with ice cream or whipping cream, with the sauce or without.   This would be good with about 3/4 cup of toasted walnuts in the recipe.  Flavor the sauce with vanilla or even orange – or almost any type of liquor that might go with the flavor of the apples.  Make it with pears!  Why have I never thought of that before…I think I’d cut back the cinnamon to a teaspoon and use almond in the caramel, and almond if I used a nut in the cake.  Using a bit of sea salt sprinkled over the caramel gives it a special feel and a bit of a modern touch.

My Pay Off:

A dessert that certainly looks homey but packs a whole lot of flavor punch.  Seriously, people go nuts over this dessert.  The best part is they look a little skeptical at first – then you get to watch their face light up when they taste it.  Then they start making the little happy food noises…It’s cake – it has calories, but not as much as some, and it does have a wee bit of fruit:  1/2 serving per slice.

Apple Cake with Rum Sauce made Fall 2011

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