Stack cake

A Stack cake is a unique regional variation that replaces a wedding cake, which can be prohibitively expensive in the economically deprived area of Appalachia, United States. Friends and family each bring a layer for the cake, and the bride's family spreads apple preserves, dried apples, or apple butter between each layer. A stack cake looks like a stack of thick pancakes. It is thought to have originated in the Beaumont Inn of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, by the original settler James Harrod. The higher amount of layers, the more popular the couple is considered.

Many types of cake layer recipes exist from sponge-like layers of cake to cookie dough-like ones; sometimes a stack cake is comprised of many variations and flavors. Stack cake parties that do not involve a wedding occur irregularly but typically serve as a way for people to exchange recipes and gossip. Its use is not limited to Kentucky cuisine but all of Appalachia.

In order to accommodate the typical seven or eight layers, each layer was sometimes pressed very flat. A few of more common flavorings used were ginger, apple and sorghum molasses.

Contemporary Cuisine

The practice of stack cake in the region has all but disappeared but renditions of the concept are being revived in some Haute Cuisine restaurants and magazines. It is also being peddled by domestic servant magazines such as Martha Stewart and Parade.

Source

* [http://southernfood.about.com/cs/kentuckyrecipes/a/kentucky.htm Kentucky Cuisine]
* [http://www.marthastewart.com/four-layer-appalachian-stack-cake Recipe from Marthastewart.com]
* [http://community.berea.edu/appalachianheritage/issues/fall2004/memoir.html History from Appalachian Heritage]

External links

* [http://community.berea.edu/appalachianheritage/issues/fall2004/memoir.html Further information on dried apple stack cakes]