Back in 1999 a good friend of mine that lives in Atlanta, GA was looking for a certain recipe to make for her Mother. It seems their Grandmother used to make a delicious Apple Stack Cake with layers and layers of thin cake with some kind of apple filling between them. My friend hadn't had it since she was a very young child and her grandmother had long ago passed away. She wanted to surprise her Mom by making this favorite cake for her but had no idea how to find the recipe.
The internet was not nearly as complete as it is now - it was just a 'baby' of sorts. So she and searched the internet as well as cookbooks at the library and my own very large collection of cookbooks trying to find one that sounded like the one her Grandmother made all those years ago. In the end she found out that her Mom had a copy of it - she just never liked cooking or baking so she had never made it. My friend copied down the recipe and made the cake for Mother's Day that year.
Here we are not even 10 years later but recipes are so easily found on the internet! Still... I cherish the handwritten recipes from the old box of my Grandmother more than I do any generic recipe on a website.
Apple Stack cake
1/2 c shortening
3/4 c sugar
1 c. molasses
1 egg beaten well
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 t vanilla
3 1/2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t cloves
1 t cinnamon
Filling:
Equal amounts of apple butter and apple sauce mixed together. (Use one jar each.)
Cream sugar and shortening. Add egg, molassas, vanilla and buttermilk. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix well.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a 9 inch circle. Add flour when rolling and cutting so the dough is nice and stiff. Makes as many thin layers as you can - try to get 12-14. Bake each at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 mins. and let cool. When cool stack with a thin layer of apple mixture between each layer. Let stand overnight before serving.