Country Recipes - Stack Cake

The stack cake is one of those country recipes with a long history. It dates back to the early pioneer days in fact. It is said that one of these pioneers, James Harrods, who founded the city of Harrodsburg, Kentucky had the recipe for stack cake with him as he traversed to Kentucky. That is at least how the story is told.

Dried Apple Stack Cake Ingredients:
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of shortening
1 well-beaten egg
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1/3 cup of sweet sorghum molasses
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Stack Cake Dried apples cooked:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. cream the sugar and shortening together, beat one egg and add it along with the buttermilk and molasses, then mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl sift soda, flour, ginger and salt together. Dig a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients and slowly add the creamed mixture and stir until blended thoroughly. Stir in vanilla and then roll this dough out, similar to what you do piecrust, in a 9-inch pan. This recipe will make 7 layers all total. Bake at 350 for about 10 - 12 minutes until slightly brown. After they are cool stack the layers with the cooked dried apples in between and on top layer too. Sprinkle the finished cake with powdered sugar. It is best when made 24 hours ahead and refrigerated. Slice thin to serve.

Stack Cake Cooked Dried Apples:

Cover 1 pound of dried apples with cold water. Cook until they are tender enough for you to mash. You might have to add water throughout the cooking process so not sticking will occur. Mix in 1 cup each of brown and white sugar, 1 teaspoon of allspice, 1/4 teaspoon of cloves, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon with the mashed dried apples still hot.