Chapter 23

CAKES

Some dessert recipes have long been standards in Appalachia—favorites for the holidays, “must take” items for family reunions or dinner-on-the-grounds gatherings or favorite family sweets sure to be served on almost any special occasion. Here’s a sampling of these, from perhaps the best known of all Appalachian desserts, stack cake (the second recipe in this chapter), to various family favorites. Note that apples, appropriately, figure quite prominently in the coverage.

Raw Apple Cake

1¾ cups sugar

3 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup oil

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 apples, sliced thin or diced

1 cup chopped pecans (divided in half)

Combine all ingredients, except apples and nuts, until well blended. Add apples and ½ cup of pecans and mix well. Pour batter into a greased 9" × 13" pan and sprinkle remaining nuts on top of batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until done.

—Tipper Pressley

Apple Stack Cake

Part 1: Cake

½ cup sugar

½ cup shortening

1 egg, beaten

⅓ cup sorghum syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup buttermilk

3½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ginger

Cream together sugar and shortening. Add egg, sorghum, vanilla and buttermilk; mix well. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and ginger. Make a hole in the dry ingredients, add the creamed mixture and stir until the consistency is like soft cookie dough.

The next step is making the cake layers. Divide dough into seven equal parts. You’ll need to add additional flour as you roll out the dough to make the layers. Roll each layer into a 9-inch circle. Bake layers at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown around the edges. Set cooked layers aside to cool.

Part 2: Apple Filling

1 pound (14 cups) dried apples

Water

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cloves

½ teaspoon allspice

Put apples in a pot with sufficient water to cover and cook; keep a fairly close eye on the apples, as you may have to add additional water while they cook. Once apples are soft enough to mash, add the other ingredients and mix well.

A traditional apple stack cake dusted with powdered sugar and nicely decorated. Tipper Pressley.

Part 3: Assembly

Place one cake layer on a cake plate and spread with apple filling. Repeat until you reach the last layer. Whether you put apple filling on the top layer is up to you. Many cooks use cooked apples to frost the entire cake. I like to leave the top layer bare and sprinkle powdered sugar on it in a pretty shape. This should not be done until just before serving; otherwise, the powdered sugar will just soak in and not provide the lovely dusted appearance.

Allow cake to sit overnight before eating. This enables the apple goodness to soak fully into the cake layers.

Part 4: Custard Sauce

4 egg yolks

½ cup sugar

2 cups half-and-half

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch salt

Custard sauce is not part of the traditional apple stack cake recipe; however, in my opinion, it makes a good thing an even better thing.

To make the sauce: Beat yolks in a metal bowl that will fit atop a saucepan in the manner of a double boiler. As you beat the yolks, add sugar a little at a time. Once sugar is added, increase the mixer speed, scraping bowl as needed, and beat until mixture is thick and lemon colored. Add half-and-half; mix well. Place bowl atop saucepan of simmering water. Cook custard over water, stirring often until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add vanilla and salt. Remove from heat and cool before serving. This is a thin custard, which makes it perfect for pouring over a piece of cake.

Part 5: Eat

After the apple stack cake has sat overnight, slice a piece and drizzle custard over it or under it—or don’t drizzle custard over it or under it at all—and eat!

NOTE: If you end up with more layers or less, the cake will still be amazingly good!

Also, while dried apples form the traditional filling between layers in stack cakes, various jams or reconstituted dried peaches will also work perfectly well.

TIP: Use the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan as a template for making cake layers by either tracing out the shape on parchment paper and rolling to size or rolling out dough and using the cake pan as a template to cut the dough out.

—Tipper Pressley

Arsh Tater Cake

Irish potato, noun—(a) variant forms arsh potato, arsh tater; (b) the common white potato with Irish added to distinguish it from a sweet potato.—Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English

This is my favorite traditional Appalachian dessert.

Cake

3 egg whites

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup mashed potatoes, warm (can be leftover from a meal)

½ cup milk

1 cup black walnuts

Icing

1 cup sweet cream or evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

3 egg yolks, beaten

1 lump (1 tablespoon) butter

1½ cups shredded sweetened coconut

1 cup black walnuts

To make the cake, beat egg whites until light and fluffy; set aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Add cocoa and vanilla; mix well. Add mashed potatoes; mix well. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk; mix well after each addition. Fold in black walnuts and egg whites. Pour batter into greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. Using parchment-lined pans helps prevent sticking. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until done. Insert a toothpick to check; when it comes away dry, the cake is ready. Remove cake from pans and let cool.

An arsh potato cake dripping with goodness. Tipper Pressley.

To make the icing, cook cream, sugar and reserved egg yolks over low heat until thick; remove from heat. Stir in butter, coconut and black walnuts.

To assemble, place one cake layer on a cake stand; pour half of the icing on top; place the other layer on top and add the rest of the icing, spreading it evenly and allowing it to drip down the sides.

—Tipper Pressley

Strawberry Shortcake

1 quart strawberries, sliced

½ cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup sugar

½ cup butter, cut into small pieces

½ cup milk

2 large eggs, separated

¼ cup sugar

Whipped cream or whipped topping

Sprinkle sliced strawberries with ½ cup sugar, stir, cover and chill while preparing the cake.

To make the cake, combine flour, baking powder, salt and ¼ cup sugar. Cut butter into flour mixture until mixture is crumbly. Combine milk and egg yolks, beat well and then add to flour mixture and mix with a fork until a soft dough forms. Divide dough in half. Press each half into a greased 9-inch cake pan. This dough is sticky; wetting your fingers makes it easier to pat down.

Beat reserved egg whites until stiff. Divide egg whites in half and gently spread over each dough layer. Sprinkle egg whites with ¼ cup sugar. Bake at 450 degrees for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Allow cakes to cool on wire rack.

A serving of strawberry shortcake. Tipper Pressley.

While cake is baking, whip up some homemade whipping cream or get your store-bought whipped cream ready to use. If you’d like to serve the entire cake at a meal, place one cake layer on a serving plate, spread half of the whipped cream over the layer and arrange half of the sliced strawberries on top. Repeat with the other layer. Alternately, whipped cream and strawberries may be added to each piece as it’s served to prevent sogginess.

Adding the beaten egg whites sprinkled with sugar to the top of the dough really gives this cake a nice crunch that contrasts with the soft berries and creamy topping.

—Tipper Pressley

Apple-Nut Cake

Cake

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

1½ cups cooking oil

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups finely diced apples

½ cup chopped pecans or English walnuts

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, sugar and oil; mix well. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Add vanilla, apples and nuts. Pour into a 9" × 13" baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until done (check with a toothpick at the hour mark). It takes only an hour in my oven. Pour glaze on while cake is still hot.

Glaze

1 stick butter

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan; bring to a boil and boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour over hot cake.

—Tipper Pressley

Summer Upside Down Cake

¾ cup butter, divided

½ cup brown sugar, packed

Your favorite fruit, enough to cover bottom of 9-inch cake pan or cast-iron pan

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup sour cream

Melt ¼ cup butter in a pan and stir in brown sugar. Swirl pan around to make sure the mixture spreads evenly. Add fruit to bottom of pan. Melt remaining butter and mix with sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat on high for 2 minutes. Add flour, baking powder and salt, mixing until just combined. Add sour cream and mix until combined. Pour batter over fruit and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done. Cool for 5 minutes and then turn out on serving plate or cake stand. A very impressive-looking dessert.

TIP: You can use reconstituted dried blueberries in this recipe.

—Tipper Pressley

Fresh Apple Cake

Cake

4 eggs

3 cups sugar

3 cups self-rising flour

1 cup raisins

1 cup cooking oil

3 cups diced apples

1 cup black walnuts

2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat the eggs and then add remaining ingredients. Batter will be stiff. Bake in a 9" × 13" cake pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Frosting

1 (13-ounce) package cream cheese

¼ cup butter or margarine

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend frosting ingredients with a mixer, a pulser or by hand. Allow cake to cool before applying the frosting.

—Jim Casada

Applesauce Cake

This is a traditional Christmas dessert in the mountain regions of the South. My mother often prepared applesauce cakes over the Thanksgiving weekend for use at Yuletide. The ensuing weeks would see cakes stored in a cool area and periodically anointed with a few tablespoons of apple cider or wine to keep them moist. This combination of aging and moisturizing produced a cake that was, by the time Christmas rolled around and it was sliced, soaked through and through with toothsome goodness. It was so moist that the slices literally glistened.

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 cups applesauce

4 cups flour

⅓ cup cocoa

4 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons allspice

2 cups raisins

2 cups black walnut meats

2 teaspoons vanilla

Pinch salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add applesauce and remaining ingredients a small amount at a time, stirring by hand as you do so. Bake in a 10-inch tube pan for 50 minutes to an hour at 350 degrees. Check with toothpick to see if cake is done; if so, it will come away clean.

—Jim Casada

Black walnuts hanging on the limb. Tipper Pressley.

Black Walnut Pound Cake

This recipe came from the late Beulah Suddereth, as good a soul and fine a cook as ever called Swain County home, not to mention being a treasured family friend. I was blessed to have known her well.

Cake

1 cup butter (no substitute)

½ cup shortening

3 cups sugar

6 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1½ cups finely chopped black walnuts

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup half-and-half

OPTIONAL: For a moister cake, add 8 ounces of sour cream.

Cream butter and shortening thoroughly. Gradually add sugar; cream until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

Slices of black walnut pound cake. Corie Graddick.

In a separate bowl, sift flour and baking powder and add chopped black walnuts. In a measuring cup, add vanilla to half-and-half. Add flour and walnut mixture and half-and-half alternately to creamed mixture, and if you opt to use sour cream, alternate it as well. Blend and mix well (beating well is the secret to a fine pound cake). Pour into a prepared 10-inch tube pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until done. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan. You can, if desired, prepare a frosting for this cake.

Black Walnut Frosting

1 stick butter, melted

1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar

Half-and-half or whole milk

¼ to ½ cup finely chopped black walnuts

Blend melted butter and powdered sugar. Add enough half-and-half to reach desired consistency. Fold in walnuts and frost cooled cake (do not put frosting atop cake until it is fully cooled).

—Jim Casada

Strawberry Punch Bowl Cake

1 quart strawberries

Sugar to taste

1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar

1 small (5-ounce) can evaporated milk

1 (8-ounce) container whipped topping

1 (16-ounce) container sour cream

1 large angel food or sponge cake, cut or broken into small cubes

Slice or chop strawberries and mix with sugar. Set aside. The longer you let your strawberries set, the juicier they will be.

Mix powdered sugar, evaporated milk, whipped topping and sour cream together until smooth. Layer cake, strawberries and powdered sugar mixture in a bowl, ending with strawberries on top.

After assembling cake, allow to sit in refrigerator for several hours or overnight to let the strawberries and cream mixture soak into the cake pieces.

While strawberries are my favorite fruit to use in this recipe, peaches and blueberries are also very tasty.

NOTE: Adding whole strawberries as the top layer makes an especially pretty presentation.

TIP: If you have a clear punch bowl, this cake looks really pretty in it, but if you don’t, just use a large bowl—the cake will still be just as good.

—Tipper Pressley