In 2009, I invented and tested and finally submitted a recipe to an Ocean Spray cranberry recipe contest. The recipe didn't win, but it should have.
This winter, I was in a hurry to make a tasty dessert for company, and I decided to make what shall henceforth be called Winged Winner Cake. I was in such a hurry that I didn't bother digging up the old finely-tuned cranberry contest recipe. Instead, I found a simple applesauce chocolate cake recipe online and replaced the oil with butter and reduced the amount of fat, added two eggs and spices and an apple and pecans and chocolate chips and cranberries, and reduced the amount of applesauce only because we didn't have enough on hand--basically, I winged it. Turns out Winged Winner Cake is way easier than my original 2009 recipe, because nothing has to be precisely measured, so I'm putting it here for future reference.
The recipe for the carefully crafted, very fussy non-winged version follows below the winged version. It tastes fabulous, but what a pain to make. The winged version takes maybe 20 minutes to throw together (if you remembered to pick up a jar of applesauce the last time you were at the food Co-op and don't have to add in time for a shopping trip), vs. I dunno, way longer for the un-winged version.
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Winged Winner Cake
1.5 cups sugar
1/2 - 3/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1.5 - 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla (to taste)
1 T ground cinnamon (to taste)
1 tsp ground cloves (to taste)
1 tsp salt
2 cups flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda (not sure this actually does anything, since it's a pretty dense cake regardess, but I haven't tried making the cake without it yet)
2/3 c. ground pecans (this is the amount that comes out when I fill the top of our nut grinder)
1 apple, whatever variety you like, grated (don't bother peeling)
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (or more, or less)
2 cups whole cranberries (that's what's in a bag, right?) (or more, or less)
Y'all, you know how to make cake batter. Mix all of the ingredients together, but don't overmix. Yadda yadda. Pour/spoon into a spring form tube pan and bake ~350oF until knife or toothpick emerges without goo (which tends to be ~50 minutes plus hmm, maybe 10 more minutes, plus hmm, maybe another 10 minutes. Just keep a casual eye on it.). Best served with homemade whipped cream, but also tasty without.
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Non-Winged non-Winner Cake: The Ur-rezept
Cranberry Chocolate Apple Cake
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably "natural," not "dutched")
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-5 Granny Smith or other tart apples (aiming for about 1 1/2 cups lightly packed grated apple, see instructions below)
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup broken pecan pieces
2 cups fresh or frozen whole cranberries
Preheat oven to 350oF. Grease and flour a Bundt pan. Cream butter; add sugar and eggs and beat 3-4 minutes or until smooth. Add applesauce and vanilla; beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients and spices. Peel apples. Using a cheese grater or food processor, coarsely grate apples, discarding cores and seeds. You will need 3-5 apples, depending on the size of the apples. The water content of the apples affects the cake; juicier apples will produce a denser, moister cake, while drier apples produce a "cakier" cake. If the apples release a lot of juice while you're mixing other ingredients together, drain off the juice before adding the apples to the cake. Beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until combined. Stir in the grated apples, chocolate chips, pecans, and cranberries. Spoon into Bundt pan. Bake 75-85 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean; it may take a little longer if the cranberries were frozen. Allow the cake to cool before removing it from the pan; it will tear if it's too warm. The cake is good served slightly warm with whipped cream (lightly sweetened and with a little vanilla added), but it improves with age and is great cold.
