Since Mom passed away, in 2011, I have been the designated apple stack cake baker for the family at Christmas. She learned from my grandmother (dad's mom) and I learned from mom. 2nd one is for my neighbor, who has a band mill. Now they just need to stay cool and soak up the apple filling until Christmas.
Very interesting and delicious sounding! Any cake that can absorb more yumminess sounds like a winner.
Here is a closer pic of one. Essentially it is nine layers of 9" cookies (baked in cast iron skillets), with apple filling ( sort of like apple butter, but not) between each layer.
Let's try it this way. Mom's recipe gave me the name "Easy Stack Cake" so I used that, even though it does seem anything but easy. Easy Stack Cake t. = teaspoon 1 t. baking soda dissolved in ½ cup buttermilk 1 cup shortening (butter flavor Crisco) 2 ½ cups sugar 2 t. vanilla 3 eggs 4 cups all purpose flour (un-sifted) 1 t. salt 1 t. baking powder Mix all ingredients, as follows: Stir baking soda into buttermilk, and let stand. Cream shortening and sugar together, with mixer. Add vanilla & eggs while mixing. Add and mix well, salt & baking powder to flour. Add flour mixture & buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. This produces a very thick (cookie dough consistency) dough. Chill dough, at least overnight, in covered bowl, in refrigerator. Keep refrigerated until ready to portion, as follows: Using bottom of cast iron skillet, trace round bottom on 9 pieces of wax paper & cut these rounds with scissors. Make sure each wax paper round fits close to edge inside of skillet. Spray a very small amount of PAM on skillet & on top of wax paper round. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Separate dough into 9 equal portions, one each on individual wax paper rounds. Using floured hands and flour sprinkled on the dough, press dough uniformly to within ½ inch of the edge of wax paper rounds. Use more flour sprinkled on dough, as needed to prevent sticking to fingers. Dough should be slightly less than, or about ¼ inch thick. (dough will fill skillet while baking). Place wax paper round, with formed layers into skillet. Placing dough too close to edge of skillet will cause finished layer to have a curled edge (it climbs up the side of skillet while baking). Vent each portion of dough with a fork ~ 8-10 times prior to baking. Bake each layer for approximately 10 minutes at 400 degrees (until layer begins to brown around edge). Watch while baking, and vent occasionally with PAM sprayed fork to prevent large bubbles of dough forming, as necessary. Note: first layers which are baked beginning with cold skillet will take longer than subsequent layers. Two or more equal size cast iron skillets will make the process quicker. Once each layer is baked, and after removal from oven, run small spatula (not an egg turner, but one of the longer spatulas shaped like a very thin, rounded tip, bread knife) carefully around edge of layer, against side of skillet. Carefully work spatula under the wax paper and run spatula under the layer to make sure the wax paper is free from skillet. Carefully turn skillet upside down, onto linen cloth, laid on a flat surface, to allow layer to fall from skillet. Allow to cool slightly and carefully remove wax paper. Use of the small spatula will help while removing wax paper, to prevent any of the layer sticking to the wax paper. About 5 minutes of cooling, before removal of wax paper works well, but experience helps with determining time for cooling. Too much cooling makes removal of wax paper more difficult. Allow each layer to cool. Repeat baking with all 9 layers. Turn over and inspect top of each layer. Set aside the best top layer for use as the very top layer of the completed cake. Apple filling (For one cake) 1 8 oz. package of dried apples (Granny Smith apples work very well). Drying your own apples gives you quality control on the apples. An electric dehydrator works well for the dried apples. 1 1/2 cups + - of white sugar to taste. 2 t. cinnamon. 1/2 t. ground nutmeg. 1/2 t. ground cloves 1 t. cornstarch (optional and only if thickening is required) ~5 c. water (enough to barely cover apples) Pour dried apples in pan & add just enough water to cover . Bring to boil over medium-low heat for 10-12 minutes (or longer), until apples are plump and absorb all of the water. Stir constantly to prevent scorching and sticking. Normally the apples will absorb all of the water. If there is too much liquid, make a paste with cornstarch and a few drops of water and stir into the pot to thicken. Place mixture in food processor and puree to consistency of apple butter, adding sugar, and spices while processing. Place processed apple filling in covered bowl and refrigerate, at least overnight. You can build the cake while baking subsequent layers, or wait until all layers are cooled to build cake Build the cake, after each layer is cooled, on the linen cloth. Remember to save the best looking layer for the top layer. Place the first layer on a plate, which is slightly larger than the layer. Spread about 1/8 inch of the apple filling, evenly on top of the layer with a long spatula. Place the next layer on top of the apple filling and repeat with each layer.. Sprinkle powdered sugar on the top layer, apple filling does not go on top layer. Refrigerate, inside a cake safe for up to 5 days or more. It takes at least 3 days for the filling to soak into layers, for best flavor. It is very helpful to have some plastic lazy susans for the dough spreading process and cake building process. You will be able to rotate each layer easily, with the lazy susans.
Not quick for sure, but is very tasty. My grandaughter (13 yrs old) told me that all she wanted for her birthday (July) was her own apple stack cake, if that helps describe how good it is. No money, or gifts, just her own cake.
I had some apple filling left from yesterday, plus some more frozen from last July from my grandaughter's cake, so I decided to bake a 3rd one this Christmas. Below are pics of some steps from todays cake baking and cake building. Cake baking...the 9 portions of dough with 3 pressed to the wax paper rounds into a preheated skillet, ready for the oven out of the oven (pic makes it look more brown than it was) all 9 layers cooling
Cake building pics: 1st layer with apple filling scooped on with apple filling spread with 3 layers with 6 layers finished cake After a few days soaking up the apple filling the cake will end up about 1/2 as tall. Below is a pic of this cake beside one that I finished yesterday, to show how much one settles in only one day. Merry Christmas everyone!
