Apple Stack Cake

Apple Stack Cake...Golly, those words bring the best memories back to my tastebuds.  I believe most people have seen and eaten a piece of stack cake but just in case you haven't, I will tell you more!

An Apple Cake is a traditional cake baked in the Appalachians often in iron skillets before bakeries and Betty Crocker arrived.  Many Sunday dinners after church and special occassions had an Apple Stack Cake on the table.

An Apple Stack Cake is 6-8 thin layers of molasses flavored cake with applesauce made from dried apples, apple preserves, or apple butter, spread between the layers.  The cake is often dry, but after sitting 24 hours layered with applesauce,  it becomes moist and delicious.

Wikipedia suggests that the Stack cake originated in Harrisbourg, Kentucky at the Beaumont Inn by the original settler, James Harrod.  However, dried apple stack cakes and many variations have spread all through the Appalachians.

Also, Appalachian lore suggests that the stack cake originated as an Appalachian wedding cake.  Guests would each bring a layer of cake and the brides family would recieve them and stack them together with prepared applebutter or other types of applesauce.  Supposedly the more layers the cake had, the more popular the wedding couple were.

If you get the time, ask your Mom or Grandmother for an Apple Stack Cake recipe.  You might have one that has been passed down for ages!  If no one knows of one you could always try this recipe from About.com.