Pioneer’s Wedding Cake
Raised in West Virginia, I heard often about the historic mountaineer’s wedding cake: a not-overly-sweet, dried-apple cake. Be forewarned, though: This is not for those who desire a traditional wedding cake in any sense. But if you want to add a dash of the unconventional, and especially a backwoods, country twist, you might want to give this a try.
Legend says one of Kentucky’s early pioneers, James Harrod, brought the cake recipe with him as he traveled to Kentucky via the Wilderness Road. Thereafter, the Mountaineers took this, along with other favorite recipes, wherever they migrated. Also called the Kentucky Pioneer Washday Cake, the cake was almost immediately adopted as a pioneer’s wedding staple. Its chief ingredients: dried apples, ginger and sweet sorghum molasses.
Here’s how you make this unusual wedding treat.
Ingredients:
Dried Apple Stack Cake
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1/3 cup molasses
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cooked dried apples
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream shortening and sugar; add beaten egg, molasses, buttermilk, and mix well. Sift flour, soda, salt, and ginger into a big mixing bowl. Make hole in center of dry ingredients and pour in creamed mix, stirring until well blended. Add vanilla, stir well, and roll out dough as you would for a piecrust. Cut to fit 9-inch pan or cast-iron skillet (this amount of dough will make 7 layers). Bake layers for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. When cool, stack layers with spiced, sweetened old-fashioned dried apples. (See recipe below.) Spread between layers and smooth around sides and top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired, or beat egg whites into a meringue and spread on outside of cake. You may brown the meringue if desired. Refrigerate immediately.