Name: Alleghany County Molasses Stack Cake
Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 1 cup brown sugar, light or dark; 1 cup molasses or sorghum; 3 eggs, beaten well; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 4 to 6 cups warm water or warm apple cider; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 cup brown sugar, Light or dark; ½ teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened, or 1 cup shortening; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 1 cup buttermilk (see Note) or milk; 4 cups (all-purpose) flour; ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg; ½ teaspoon ground allspice; ¼ teaspoon ground cloves; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 2 teaspoons ground ginger; 1 pound dried apples (about 4 cups)

Preparation info

Serves
6 to 8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Southern Cakes

By Nancie McDermott

Published 2007

About

Stack cake is an Appalachian mountain original, a sturdy, homespun tower of thin gingerbread layers, fortified with sorghum or molasses, enlivened with sweet spices, and held steady by a delicious dried apple-spice puree. My friend Dean’s Aunt Lou was the stack cake queen of Alleghany County, North Carolina, renowned for her molasses-laced, six-layer versions. You’ll find believers in dough instead of batter, rolled dough instead of patted, stovetop versus oven, and sweeten