Traditional Appalachian Stack Cake with Cooked Apple Bourbon Sauce. My version of a completely traditional Appalachian stack cake inspired by the way my ancestors would have done many moons ago. All the ingredients are there. Dried apples, a stiff dough, molasses, and apple butter. My only flare is adding a bourbon sauce to drip over the edges and right into your heart. 

Drying apples was the favored way of preserving the glorious wild apples that grow all throughout Appalachia. They would be dried on screens in kitchens or on a piece of tin out in the sun saved to enjoy all winter long. 

Stack cakes are quintessential Appalachian cuisine. Enjoyed mostly in the Fall and Winter. The hallmark of Appalachian cooking is resourcefulness. We take humble ingredients, combine them together, and make something unforgettable. Often these ingredients are found very locally. Either through a local farmer, foraged, or grown in our own yards. The result is something truly our own and absolutely delicious. 

Cake Ingredients

5 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger (dried)

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

1 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup molasses

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk (full fat)

2-3 cups Apple Butter

Apples & Bourbon Sauce 

4-5 cups dried apples

2 cups dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups water 

3 tbs butter

1/3 cup bourbon 

Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare your baking pans by greasing with butter (or Crisco) and lining the bottoms with parchment paper. 

6” pans divided into 7 layers (pans)

8” pans divided into 5 layers (pans)

9” pans divided into 4 layers (pans)

In a large bowl add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Sift together. Set aside. 

To your stand mixer bowl add the butter, sugar, and molasses. Cream together until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs 1 at a time. Mix until fully incorporated. 

With your mixer set to low start to add the dry ingredients (flour mixture) slowly. Alternate between the dry ingredients and the buttermilk until both are fully incorporated. Turn your mixer off and Equally divide batter into prepared pans. Bake for approximately 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The cake will also pull away from the edges of the pan. Remove cakes from the oven and allow to cool in pans for 30 minutes. Remove from pans and allow to cool an additional 30 minutes on a wire rack. While cakes cool start on the Apple & Bourbon Sauce. 

Add the apples, brown sugar, water, and bourbon to a heavy bottomed, high sided pan. Stir to evenly coat apples. Allow to cook on medium low for 20 minutes covered. Stir as needed. Apples should become soft and pliable. Add the butter and cook on low an additional 10-15 minutes uncovered. Stirring frequently. Sauce should thicken to a consistency similar to a syrup. Remove from heat and allow to cool. 

Once cakes have cooled, begin building your cake. 

Place a spoonful of apple butter on the middle of the cake plate. Place your first cake layer down on top of it. Add a thin, even layer of apple butter on top of cake and a thin layer of apples. Try to reserve as much apple “sauce” as you can to pour over finished cake. Repeat by adding another layer on top of the cake, apple butter, apples. Do this until desired cake height is achieved. Finish the top of the cake by adding a layer of apple butter, a heaping pile of apples, and the sauce from the pan. Enjoy!