Making an Old Fashioned Apple Stack Cake

Hello everyone from Ten Gables Cottage,

Yesterday was the day to make the Old Fashioned Apple Stack Cake and let it moisten up for Christmas dessert!

Do you remember the McIntosh apples I dried in the dehydrator? Well, I got them out of the freezer and began to cook them and I kept adding water as they reconstituted.

While they cooked, I made 9 layers for the cake! Here is the recipe.

For the cake:

6 cups flour

1/2 tsp. soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. allspice

1/2 tsp. cloves

3/4 cup solid shortening

1 cup sugar (1/2 white and 1/2 brown)

Sift the dry ingredients in one bowl and set aside. In another Large bowl cream the shortening and sugars and add:

1 cup molasses and mix well. Beat in 3 eggs, one at a time. Add 1 tsp. vanilla.

Then add 1/2 cup buttermilk, alternately with dry ingredients. Place dough on a floured surface and work in enough extra flour to make it easy to handle, but not stiff. Divide into 9 portions at a time.

Here are the portions of dough.

Pat one portion at a time into 9" round pans. Press down with your fingers evenly over bottom of pans. Bake at 375 degrees until light brown.

The dough pressed into pans, ready for oven.

The baked cake layers are cooling on racks.

When all layers have baked and cooled, put together with the seasoned apples mixture. Store cake in fridge in airtight container for 3 or 4 days to moisten. Freezes well.

Now here is the way to season the apples before you spread between the cake layers.

Use 20-24 ounces of evaporated (dried) apples. Add about 1 tsp. of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. cloves, allspice and nutmeg. Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup brown sugar. Taste and adjust. Mash apples and makes sure they are juicy enough (add water as needed as they cook). They should be the consistency of applesauce. Cool and use generously between each layer of cake. It makes a BIG CAKE as you can see, so you can freeze part if you choose. The house smells absolutely wonderful while it is baking! My mother and grandmother made this cake every year, so I am carrying on the tradition.