I always love a delicious controversy.
Last week, I ran a story about Pennsylvania Dutch funny cake, with tips on how to make it from private chef/culinary instructor Mary Grube.
Grube and many other funny cake recipes I found online call for a pie crust that’s topped with a chocolate layer, and that layer is topped with a white cake layer.
I also talked to a noted expert on Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine, William Woys Weaver, who said he wasn’t certain how the name originated but had a few theories, including that it could be a corruption of Pennsylvania Dutch words (many desserts such as Apees and Snickerdoodles are corruptions of Pennsylvania Dutch).
After the story appeared, several readers nicely assert that funny cake gets its name from the process of how it’s made: which should be pie crust, topped with cake batter, topped with a chocolate layer. As it bakes, the cake and chocolate layers flip, which is “funny.”
If you do a search online for funny cake recipes, you’ll see both methods — with the chocolate layer starting on top and starting on the bottom.
So who’s right? As a journalist, I go by what the experts tell me. As someone who likes to cook and bake, I say there’s room for both methods.
Denise Fantuzzi of Orefield was one of the people who contacted me. She wanted to share the following funny cake recipe from her grandmother, Edna Gross Fretz, who was Pennsylvania Dutch. In this recipe, the cake and chocolate layers will flip during baking.
FUNNY CAKE
Makes two 8-inch pies
Pie crust:
Use your favorite recipe or two prepared pie crusts. (See basic homemade pie crust recipe below)
Chocolate layer:
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 cup hot water
1 tsp. vanilla
Cake layer:
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsps. baking powder
2 eggs
1 rounded Tbsp. shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
Line two 8-inch pie pans with unbaked pastry.
Cake layer: Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, combine eggs, shortening, sugar and milk; mix well. Slowly add in the dry ingredients until it’s all incorporated. Pour cake layer over both pie crusts.
Chocolate layer: In another bowl, combine ingredients for chocolate layer. Pour chocolate layer on top of cake layer in both pies.
Bake at 350 to 375 degrees (depending on your oven) until cake is done (about 1 hour). Check cakes after 50 minutes. You can cover the edges with foil for the first 40 minutes to keep the crusts from getting too brown.
Pie crust: If you want to make a homemade pie crust but don’t have a recipe, here’s a good one. You’ll need 3 cups flour, 2 tsps. salt, 1 cup of butter or shortening and 1/2 cup ice-cold water. Blend flour, salt and shortening together with fingers until mealy, about the size of peas. Add enough ice water to form dough. Mix just enough to moisten. Over-mixing will result in a tough dough. Cover and keep chilled in the fridge till you’re ready. (Makes two crusts).
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