— This dense, rich cake from Joan Aller’s forthcoming cookbook, “Cider Beans, Wild Greens and Dandelion Jelly” (a collection of recipes from southern Appalachia due out in June), is remarkably easy to ...

Place dried apples in a saucepan; add water to cover. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes or until tender. Drain and mash apples. Stir in brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons ...

Note: In Southern Appalachia, the number of cake layers — in this case six — is considered a measure of the host’s popularity. 1/2 cup all-vegetable shortening 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup buttermilk 1/3 cup ...

Preheat an oven to 350°F. You will need to make 6 cake layers, each of which will be divided in half. This is easiest to do if you have 6 (10-inch) spring form pans. Cut 6 circles of parchment paper ...

Fred Sauceman’s wife, Jill, is the only grandchild in her family who makes her late grandmother’s dried apple stack cake. The recipe for the cake is well over 100 years old. The cake calls for no ...

Both the folklore and history behind Appalachian stack cakes have always been a little romantic to me. The traditional dessert looks like a sky-high pile of thick pancakes spread with even thicker ...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The door to the log cabin kept opening and closing. Ashley English walked in first. Her 2-year-old toddler was a mad man, said the harried mother of two, shutting the door behind her ...

Place dried apples in a saucepan; add water to cover. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes or until tender. Drain and mash apples. Stir in brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons ...

Stack cake is the ultimate mountaineers' dessert -- a not too sweet, but satisfying and complexly flavored dessert made of 4-6 thin layers of molasses-tinged, biscuit-like cake covered with a dark, ...

This is probably the most “mountain” of cakes. The story goes that James Harrod, one of Kentucky’s early pioneers and the founder of Harrodsburg, brought the stack cake recipe when he came to the ...