Molasses Dried Apple Stack Cake

Molasses Dried Apple Stack Cake is a six-layer cake that has warmly spiced cooked dried apples tucked between the layers. It shows up on many southern tables during the holidays. If you try it once, you’ll be craving it again.

Molasses Dried Apple Stack Cake is a rustic cake, not made to show perfection, but character. When you eat a piece, you won’t be worrying about the small character cracks, you’ll be too busy savoring every bite.

The Name

If you’re not familiar with this cake, it’s well known in the Appalachian area, and the name somewhat changes, depending on where you live. Some names include Appalachian Stack Cake, Apple Stack Cake, Pioneer Wedding Stack Cake, Dried Apple Stack Cake, East Tennessee Apple Stack Cake, Washday Cake, and Tennessee Mountain Stack Cake. I’m sure there are a few more name variations I don’t know about.

The Origin of this recipe

This cake has been a mainstay on southern tables since at least the depression era, or before. Kentucky lays its claim to the origination of the cake, calling it Washday cake. Tennessee also claims the Tennessee Stack Cake as being the original stack cake. Others say, a colonist and farmer from Pittsburgh, James Harrod, brought the recipe with him from Pittsburgh.

Why all the layers?

The early mountain settlers didn’t have money to make fancy cakes for holidays or weddings. However, they had an abundance of apple trees. At weddings, each mountain settler would make and bring one thin cake layer to the bride’s family. The family would spread each layer with apple filling as the layers arrived, stacking the cake high with layers. It was told that the amount of layers received, determined how popular the bride was.

Today, most recipes for this cake are for 6 layers, although I’ve seen some with more. Below is my mother’s recipe for this cake. She didn’t make this cake for Christmas, since she loved making her homemade White Fruitcake, but she made it for my father’s birthday.

The Filling

Most recipes for this cake call for cooking down dried apples, then adding spices to them. However, I have seen recipes calling for apple butter and applesauce. My mother used dried apples in this recipe, but didn’t list the exact spices. Therefore, I played with it until it tasted just like hers. You can feel free to adjust the spices to your liking.

Cooking the dried apples

Most people like to dry their own apples during the summer months and save them for this cake. However, I cheated this time and used dried apples from the Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. They worked perfectly.

Here’s how to cook the dried apples.

1. Add the dried apples to a large pot. Cover them with at least 1/4 inch of water, about 5 1/2 to 6 cups of water.
2. The apples will swell up, so make sure you use a big enough pot. Bring the apples to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cook for about 35 minutes until the apples are very tender, stirring every 5 minutes. Most all of the water should be cooked off.
3. Mash, measure & season: Using a potato masher, mash all of the apples. Then measure out 3 cups of the apples into a saucepan or bowl. Add the sugar and seasonings and mix well. Use your favorite seasonings, if you don’t like the ones listed here in the recipe. Reminder…cloves are strong and a little goes a long way. This is my mother’s recipe and she didn’t like cloves. She only used cinnamon and nutmeg. I added a little bit of cloves, not much.

Pro Tips for this Cake (please read before making cake)

• Don’t over flour your cake pans. Grease and just lightly flour them. These are very thin cake layers, and too much flour in the pans will lend to dry cake layers.
• Make sure to use 9-inch round cake pans. The layers are suppose to be thin. Don’t use 8-inch pans.
• There should be 6 layers. Don’t try to make less or more. There are recipes out there for higher, 7 to 8 layer apple stack cakes. They have more ingredients. If you want that many layers, you need a different recipe.
• The batter is very thick. There should be 1 cup of batter per cake pan. Use an offset spatula and evenly spread the batter across the pan to the edges. Don’t think you need more batter for each pan. One cup is all you need.
• Don’t try to bake too many cakes at one time. If you’re like me you don’t have 6 cake pans anyway. I have 4. I bake two at a time, prepping the pans as I go. You can leave the bowl of cake batter on your counter as long as you need to. There’s 2 teaspoons of baking powder in the batter. Baking powder reacts twice…once when introduced to the wet ingredients and again when it’s in the oven. Therefore, you can leave your batter on the counter for awhile.
• I have this spelled out very precisely on the recipe card, but make sure once you cook the apples, to measure out and use no more than 3 cups of the cooked apples. Here’s why I say this…I have read several recipes on apple stack and molasses stack cakes. I’ve realized they all have a missing step, including my mother’s recipe, when cooking the apples. They all say to cook one pound of apples and mash them. Then add the sugar and spices, and place on the cake layers. Although the cake calls for 3 cups of filling and the cooked apples are at least 5 cups or more. Make sure to mash the apples, then measure out 3 cups first, then add the sugar and spices. This is important, or your spices will end up tasting too weak in the filling, and of course you won’t use all that filling. You can save the extra filling to eat on biscuits or toast.
• Don’t be tempted to add extra filling to each layer. As noted above, you should measure out exactly 3 cups, then add your sugar and spices. Do not use the extra filling in this recipe. It might be tempting to add extra filling to the cake layers, but it will result in soggy, falling apart cake layers. The filling might not look like it’s enough on each layer, but trust me it is. You’re using 3 cups of filling for 5 cake layers, (don’t do the top one). I did the math for you. That is 4.8 ounces of filling per layer. I used 1/2 cup (4 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons of filling per cake layer.
• When cooking the apples, bring them to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer them for about 35 minutes until most all of the water is gone and the apples are tender. Stir them once every 5 minutes. No need to cover with a lid.
• Use a big enough pot. The apples will swell up as they cook. Make sure to allow for this by using a pot that is big enough.

Making the cake layers

The cake batter is very thick, almost like cookie dough. Each cake pan gets 1 cup of batter, no more. Spread the batter out very thinly with a small offset spatula. If you only have 2 cake pans, bake 2 layers at a time and wash and re-prep cake pans.

By the way, I used these delicious Sorghum Molasses in this recipe from Kennameade Farms in Kentucky. If you want pure delicious sorghum, call them. They will ship directly to you. I can’t wait to use them in my gingerbread cookies.

Ripening the Cake

Once the cake layers are assembled, it’s important to allow this cake to ripen for about 3 days. By this I mean giving the cake time for the dried apple filling to soak into the cake layers, thus allowing all the flavors to meld together. I’ll be honest, I took these pictures before allowing the cake to ripen, as I wanted to get it posted before the holidays.

As I previously stated, this is a rustic cake. Don’t worry if the layers slightly crack. The layers are rather stiff once baked, however, once the cake ripens, the layers soften up and become moist. Feel free to dust the top with powdered sugar if you want. This cake is not meant to have filling on the top layer.

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Molasses Apple Stack Cake

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• Author: Cindy @mycountrytable
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: see notes
• Total Time: 0 hours
• Yield: 1 cake 1x
• Category: Cakes/Desserts
• Method: Bake/Cook
• Cuisine: American

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Description

Don’t let this rustic simple looking cake fool you. It might not be the prettiest cake, but the flavor makes up for it. You must try this cake at least once in your life.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

CAKE

• 4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup full-fat buttermilk, room temperature

FILLING

• 1 pound dried apples
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (or more to taste)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves

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Instructions

CAKE

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & lightly flour six 9-inch cake pans and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Mix the batter: Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed for about 2 minutes until the butter is light and creamy. Add the sugar and beat on medium-high speed until the sugar is incorporated and the mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 more minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until fully incorporated. Add the molasses and mix on medium speed until all ingredients are well combined. Add the flour and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
4. Divide batter: Measure out 1 cup of batter for each cake pan. Use a small offset spatula to spread the batter evenly across the bottom of each cake pan. This is a thick batter, therefore, you can’t shake the pan back and forth to level out the filling. Try to make sure it’s leveled out evenly, and the center is not thicker than the remaining batter. Bake the cakes 2 to 3 at a time, depending on how many cake pans you have. It doesn’t hurt to leave the batter sitting out on the counter while some of the cakes bake. I bake 2 cakes at a time.
5. Bake the cakes for 12 to 15 minutes and promptly remove from the oven. Mine took 13 minutes each time, but ovens vary. Allow the cakes to cool for 5 minutes in the pans. Run a thin knife around the edges. Then, holding a hand on each side of the pan, gently shake the top edge of the pan up and down  rotating the pan as you go. Gently shake until you feel the cake break away from the bottom of the pan all the way around. Invert the cake onto a piece of waxed paper. Allow to cool. These cool quickly.
6. Stack the cake layers: Start by placing your first cake layer on a cake plate. You’re going to put filling on the first 5 layers, but not on the top 6th layer. Place 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the filling on each cake layer. Spread the filling all the way to the very edge. It will be very thin. Do this on each layer as you keep stacking them, stopping after the fifth layer.
7. Store: Wrap the cake securely with plastic wrap and refrigerate. This cake tastes best after 1 to 2 days in the refrigerator. The filling and cake layers need time to meld together. Remove the cake from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving for best flavor.
8. Wrap leftovers securely and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

FILLING

1. Cook the apples: Add the dried apples to a large pot. Cover them with at least 1/4 inch of water, about 5 1/2 to 6 cups of water. The apples will swell up, so make sure you use a big enough pot. Bring the apples to a boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to a low simmer. Cook for about 35 minutes until the apples are very tender, stirring every 5 minutes. Most all of the water should be cooked off.
2. Mash, measure & season: Using a potato masher, mash all of the apples. Then measure out 3 cups of the apples into a saucepan or bowl. Add the sugar and seasonings and mix well. Use your favorite seasonings, if you don’t like the ones listed here in the recipe. Reminder…cloves are strong and a little goes a long way. This is my mother’s recipe and she didn’t like cloves. She only used cinnamon and nutmeg. I added a little bit of cloves, not much.
3. See #6 under the cake instructions.

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Notes

• Please read all the tips above the recipe before making this cake.
• The cook time for the filling is approximately 35 minutes. The bake time for the cakes is approximately 12 t0 15 minutes for each batch of cakes.