Appalachian Stack Cake

Backcountry Notes ^ | February 10, 2010 | Jay Henderson

[jay1949]

Thanks — and I love scuppernongs! There was a HUGE red-scuppernong vine on my grandparents’ farm in NC when I was a kid; I would pick those by the milk-pail (after I had eaten enough to start with, of course).

[Stand Watch Listen]

Apple Stack Cake

Ingredients
-- 2 cups white sugar
-- 1 cup shortening
-- 2 eggs
-- 1 teaspoon baking soda
-- 3 teaspoons baking powder
-- 6 cups all-purpose flour
-- 1 teaspoon salt
-- 1/2 cup buttermilk
-- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-- 2 pounds dried apples, cooked and mashed
-- 1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
-- 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
-- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
-- 1 teaspoon ground allspice

Directions
-- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Grease and flour six 8-inch pans.
-- In a large bowl mix together white sugar, shortening, eggs, soda, baking powder, flour, salt, buttermilk, and vanilla.
-- Divide batter into 6 equal parts. Press into prepared pans.
-- Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for ten minutes.

To Make Filling:
-- To the cooked and mashed apples, add the brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice, and mix.
-- Layer 1 cake, spread filling between layer on top and sides. Do this with each of the 6 layers.
-- Let stand at least 12 hours before cutting

[gardengirl]

I love the black ones for jelly and the bronzes just to eat! The black ones are also great for munching. They’re the only grapes that will really do well in our hot humid climate. All scuppernongs are muscadines but not all muscadines are scuppernongs. The best part of the grape for you is the skin and the seeds cause they’re full of resveratrol. The mother grape vine is a 400 year old plant. For more info, check out this link:

http://hamptonroads.com/node/472512

I did a really good article on scuppernongs a couple years ago. :)
My people are scots-irish, welsh, and cherokee, mostly from northern NC and then up into Kentucky and Ohio. Your posts are like a glimpse into my past. :)

[gardengirl]

Ummm... Haven’t made applebutter for years. :)

[ilovesarah2012]

Thanks. I’m gonna try it.

[alicewonders]

Thanks for the recipe! The apple mixture sounds like what my mother would have used. The cake part sounds different than hers. Her cake layers were spicy - almost like the gingerbread she used to make for my Dad. I do remember that the cake layers were “sturdier” than regular cake.

She has Alzheimer’s now, so she won’t be making any more dried apple stack cakes. I’m going to have to go through her recipes & try to find hers. Now I want to make one.

[birddog]

Here is an idea for those recipes you do remember...

My mother made a binder with all the family recipes and gave it her kids her Christmas. It includes all the recipes from her monther and mother-in-law. She actually had her mother over and made her measure ingedients for her chicken and dumplings so it could be written down. I will treasure it forever and use it all the time...

[ilovesarah2012]

What a wonderful gift. Ah, chicken and dumplings. My mom made the best. I use the frozen dumplings. LOL She would not be happy.

[imfrmdixie]

My Grannie made this cake with apple jelly, too....one of my favorite memories...her layers were so thin and perfect...as to scuppernongs....I like the way you put them up to your open mouth and squish them...the “inside” pops into your mouth....yum, yum!!

[gardengirl]

I think prob whatever they had that would spread and soak into the layers was utilized! LOL I had some black scuppernongs last summer that were the best I’ve ever eaten! The layers that the old ladies make here were nearly pancake thin, and that jelly soaked into them so well... They called it jelly cake.

[gardengirl]

Measuring is the hard part! I know how many handfuls, or which certain spoon I use, and mostly the amount depends on how many people are eating!

Lucky you to have the recipes written down!

[Stand Watch Listen]

Here's a variation of the 'cake' I've located (filling, as noted above, can remain the same):

GINGER CAKE/DRIED APPLE STACK CAKE

1 c. sugar
1 c. molasses
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. boiling water
1 1/2 tsp. soda in boiling water
2 tsp. ginger
Scant tsp. salt
3 1/2 c. flour, sifted
1 c. lard, melted and added to batter last

Bake in thin layers for stack cake. Spread cooked and sweetened dried apples between layers and on top. Best if made 1 to 2 days ahead and allowed to "age".

[imfrmdixie]

Yep...jelly cakes....my Gran made crepes before crepes became cool.

[gardengirl]

Never thought about it that way, but...yeah. LOL

[alicewonders]

That one sounds more like it. She did make it a couple of days before we ate it too. I don’t think she used lard though - probably Crisco. Thank you very much!

[Just mythoughts]

Looks like apple butter to me. Could also be a well-boiled-down dried apple mixture, but this is a contemporary stock picture, so probably it is apple butter.

I agree.

[Just mythoughts]

Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I printed it out and will try it soon.

[Just mythoughts]

Ummm... Haven’t made applebutter for years. :)

Yes, and that picture sure made my mouth water thinking about a spoonful on a hot biscuit.

[gardengirl]

How bout it?! LOL