Garbage Cake

Garbage, not because it's rotten but because you can just dump all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix away. I also like to call this "church lady potluck cake" because there always seems to be a cake like this at church potlucks. I sometimes substitute raisins for the dates and pecans for the walnuts. Very flexible recipe from the Norske Nook cookbook.

• Ready In: 1 hr 40 mins
• Serves: 20

Ingredients

• 2  cups applesauce
• 2  eggs
• 1⁄2 cup butter, softened
• 1  cup dates, chopped
• 1  cup walnuts, chopped
• 1  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  lemon extract
• 1⁄3 teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 2  teaspoons baking soda
• 2  cups flour
• 1  teaspoon cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1  tablespoon molasses
• 2  cups  frosting (of your choice, your own, or my Cream Cheese Frosting recipe.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Stir all the ingredients, except frosting, into a large bowl in the order given.
3. Mix slowly by hand at first, then beat with an mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
4. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Cool, then top with frosting.