Apple Stack Cake
recipe adapted from Southern Food by John Egerton & photography by Talitha Schroeder
filling
1 lb. dried apples
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground clove
Cover dried apples with water and cook covered over medium heat, adding a little more water if needed to keep the fruit from sticking. Remove from heat and break up the pieces with a fork or wooden spoon. Stir in sugar and spices and return to the stove. Cook over medium-low to medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is soft, thick and spicy. Take off the heat and keep covered while preparing the cake layers.
Homemade or store bought apple butter may be substituted for the dried apple filling. You’ll need about 2 ½ to 3 cups of filling.
cake layers
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
3 whole eggs, well-beaten
Preheat oven to 350℉, and grease and flour three or four 9” cake pans.
Cream the sugar and shortening together in a large bowl. Combine the sifted flour, salt and ginger, and sift twice more into a smaller bowl. Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures to the creamed sugar and shortening, alternately, a little bit at a time and combine well. When all the flour and buttermilk has been added, slowly add the three beaten eggs to the batter.
Working with half the batter, divide it among the cake pans and bake for 15 minutes or until done in the center.
Turn the first batch of cakes out of the pans to cool, wash the pans and grease and flour them again. Then repeat with the second half of the batter. You should end up with 6-8 layers; cool to room temperature before filling.
To assemble the stack cake, place one layer on a large platter and spread a generous portion of the apple filling over it. Repeat until all the layers are in place. If there’s still any filling left, spread it on the top layer. Let the cake stand, covered, in a cool spot for a day or two before cutting so that the layers can soften and the flavors mellow.
Before serving, dust the top of the cake with a nice shower of powdered sugar.
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