Stack Cake
Dried Apple Filling:
- 1 pound dried apples, washed well if necessary
- 10 cups water
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ÂĽ cup bourbon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
- 6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or vegetable shortening
- 2½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy cream, whipped until stiff with 2 tablespoons confectioners’ (10 X) sugar
Instructions:
Some dried apples need to be washed, usually those bought at roadside stands or farmer’s markets.
- For the filling: Place the dried apples in a large nonreactive saucepan, add the water, and cook uncovered for 55 to 60 minutes or until the apples are soft enough to mash and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Using a slotted spoon, scoop the apples into a large heatproof bowl and mash thoroughly. Mix in all remaining filling ingredients and cool to room temperature. Note: You can make the filling several days ahead of time and refrigerate until ready to use.
- When ready to proceed, arrange two racks about 4 inches apart as near the middle of the oven as possible. If yours is a small oven, place one rack in the middle. Preheat the oven to 450° F.
- For the pastry: Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt onto a piece of wax paper and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer briefly at low speed and then at high speed for about 2 minutes or until fluffy. Beat the eggs in one by one.
- Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry and beating after each addition only enough to combine.
- Divide the dough into six equal parts, shape into balls, then place each on a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil and cover with a sheet of floured wax paper. Roll two balls of dough into rounds about 9 inches across. Peel off the wax paper, then flour the rim of a 9-inch round layer cake pan and using it as a “cookie cutter,” cut each circle of dough into a perfect 9-inch round. Gently pat any scraps of dough into the center of the rounds; these won’t show after they’re baked.
- Ease each pastry circle, parchment and all, onto a baking sheet, slide into the oven, and bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until delicately browned. Lift the baked pastry circles (still on the parchment) at once to wire racks to cool. Shape, bake, and cool four more pastry rounds the same way. Note: If your oven is large enough to accommodate two baking sheets on each rack, so much the better. Otherwise, you will have to bake the pastry circles one or two at a time.
- To assemble the stack cake: Working on a large round cake plate, sandwich the six pastry rounds together with the apple filling, dividing the total amount evenly. Do not spread filling on the top layer.
- Cover the stack cake with a domed “cake keeper” or large turned-upside-down bowl and let stand in a cool spot (not the refrigerator) for at least 12 hours before cutting.
- To serve the stack cake, cut into wedges and top each portion with the sweetened whipped cream.