hhgregg FINE LINES

Our culinary magazine trio shrinks to a pair with Monday’s news from Condé Nast it will close Gourmet after nearly 70 years of publication, leaving Bon Appetit and Food & Wine to stand alone. The magazine, introduced in 1941, is expected to close by the end of the year. November may be the last issue. The last Thanksgiving.

Gourmet, which has nearly 1 million subscribers, fell victim to a decline in ad sales. Even though many fans enjoyed flipping through the glossy pages, about the same number of subscribers as American Express’ Food & Wine, popular food shows on television and online sites eroded the magazine's advertising revenue. Condé Nast opted to continue their other  food publication, Bon Appetit, hoping to consolidate ad sales and subscribers under this one publication.

The news made me feel guilty. Yes, I was one of those who cancelled their Gourmet subscription several years ago, but I still collect the annual Gourmet recipe compendiums going back to 1997 and regularly visit Epicurious.com, the cooking website featuring both Gourmet and Bon Appetit recipes.  I must also confess to watching food television. Guilty as charged.

Gourmet Editor Ruth Reichl said in parting “This magazine invented the epicurean category in the U.S. You read the magazine and you get a picture of America through its food. For almost 70 years it chronicled what America was like. My little piece of it was just at the end.”

She will continue her book tour to promote "Gourmet Today," a 1024 page cookbook, and the debut of the public television show “Gourmet’s Adventures with Ruth”  remains on schedule for October 17. Condé Nast will continue to use the Gourmet brand in book publishing and television programming, and Gourmet recipes will still appear on Epicurious.com.

Fine Lines brands are certainly no stranger to the pages of Gourmet. Wolf, Sub-Zero, Thermador, KitchenAid and Jenn-air made regular appearances, the perfect appliances for gourmet cooking. We will all miss Gourmet in its original form, glossy pages and all.

Gourmet’s Spiced Applesauce Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Serves 6
Active time: 20 min
Start to finish: 3 1/2 hr (includes cooling)
This is the cake you want on a cool Sunday evening in October, after you’ve just finished eating your first beef stew of the season. It’s full of the flavors everyone craves once the mercury dips below 50 degrees—brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. The swath of spiced cream cheese frosting is as easy to make as it is delicious.

For cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup walnuts (optional), toasted, cooled, and chopped

For frosting
5 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Make cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter an 8- or 9-inch square cake pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined, then stir in walnuts (if using).

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Reinvert cake onto a rack to cool completely.

Make frosting:
Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Sift confectioners sugar and cinnamon over cream cheese mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated. Spread frosting over top of cooled cake.

Recipe by Andrea Albin
Photograph by Stephanie Foley