It must the year of the Amish cookbook. Today I am going to bring you my thoughts on The Essential Amish Cookbook and demonstrate the Shoofly Cake recipe from the book. I had, of course heard of Shoofly Pie but I had never seen the flavors transferred to a cake so I figured it would be a fun recipe to make for a meeting the hubby was attending. I was sent the cookbook at no charge to review but all opinions are my own.
About The Essential Amish Cookbook:
Taste the goodness of Amish life.
Bestselling cookbook author and food columnist Lovina Eicher brings together the best of Amish cooking in The Essential Amish Cookbook: Everyday Recipes from Farm and Pantry. Join Eicher as she shares traditional Amish recipes along with her own kitchen tips and secrets. Growing up, Eicher learned to cook and bake at an early age alongside her mother, longtime columnist and Amish cookbook author Elizabeth Coblentz, and has put those skills to use in her own Amish kitchen as she cooks for her eight children.
The easy-to-follow, authentic recipes you’ll find in The Essential Amish Cookbook are prepared every day in countless homes in Old Order Amish communities across North America. Many of the more than 100 recipes are richly illustrated with step-by-step photographs to help you learn Amish cooking just as if you were in Lovina’s kitchen. From hearty main dishes to substantial sides–plus a generous sampling of scrumptious cakes, pies, cookies, and other delectable desserts–learn how to make the hearty, simple dishes that the Amish cook together and serve at home, church services, and weddings.
In a fast-food, digital world, the book’s colorful photos and conversational tone provide a real taste of Amish life and invite you to slow down. Your family will come to love her Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread, Rhubarb Juice, Roast Beef with Veggies, Oven Crusted Chicken, pickles, jams, and so much more. Experience the simple joys of Amish life–food, faith and family!
Here is a bonus recipe from Lovina’s Facebook Page:
About the Author:
Lovina Eicher is author of the syndicated column, Lovina’s Amish Kitchen, which appears in 40 newspapers around the United States and on a weekly blog maintain by her editors. She is the author of several cookbooks. Lovina and her husband have eight children and live in rural Michigan.
My Opinion:
The Essential Amish Cookbook is full of easy to follow recipes for good, old fashioned comfort food. There is nothing fancy to be found in the pages of this book, but what you will find are tasty dinners like Oven Crusty Chicken, (only three ingredients!) Venison Bake, and Whole Baked Chicken. Simple, wholesome meals that you can probably make with what you already have in your pantry.
If you live anywhere near an Amish enclave you well know the desserts that can be found in the diners and bakeries located nearby. This book offers many recipes for pies, cakes, cookies and breads (both sweet and plain) to bake in a home kitchen. The recipes are very easy to follow but I do think it’s helpful to have some basic kitchen knowledge when using them. (For example, in the recipe below the cookbook does not tell you to preheat the oven. I’ve adjust the recipe to include that. The recipe also did not include salt and I’ve adjusted for that as well.)
The book is a delight to browse through as it is full of stunning photos from Amish communities. They bring the quiet, peaceful world to life.
Any purchase links are affiliate links which means if you buy anything through them I will receive a small commission that helps to keep the Farm cats in toys and treats
Rating:
4
Shoofly Cake Recipe
2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Confectioner’s sugar or whipped cream
Preheat oven to 350°
Grease a 9 x 13″ baking pan.
Combine flour, brown sugar salt, and butter by hand to form fine crumbs.
Reserve 3/4 cup of this crumb mixture to put on top of the cake.
Separately mix together the boiling water, molasses and baking soda (note: this will foam up very quickly. Be close to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Don’t ask how I learned this.)
Stir into the crumb mixture just until mixed (note: this is a VERY wet batter.)
Pour into the prepared cake pan and sprinkle with the reserved mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 – 40 minutes (note: my cake took 37 minutes to bake)
Cool on a wire rack and then cut into squares.
To serve: you can either dust with confectioner’s sugar or top with whipped cream
How Was It?
I will be the first to admit I was a little worried about this one. It was a VERY wet batter. I was really concerned as to what was going to come out when the timer binged. But I needn’t have been! The recipe produced a light, very moist cake that improved in flavor with each successive day. It is a very molasses forward cake so if you don’t like the flavor of molasses you are not going to like this. You also don’t need a very big piece of it to be satisfied. It was so easy to make I’m sure it will become one of my go-to recipes.
PrintShoofly Cake Recipe from The Essential Amish Cookbook
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Confectioner’s sugar or whipped cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Grease a 9 x 13″ baking pan.
- Combine flour, brown sugar, salt and butter by hand to form fine crumbs.
- Reserve 3/4 cup of this crumb mixture to put on top of the cake.
- Separately mix together the boiling water, molasses and baking soda (note: this will foam up very quickly. Be close to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Don’t ask.)
- Stir into the crumb mixture just until mixed (note: this is a VERY wet batter.)
- Pour into the prepared cake pan and sprinkle with the reserved mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 – 40 minutes (note: my cake took 37 minutes to bake)
- Cool on a wire rack and then cut into squares.
- To serve: you can either dust with confectioner’s sugar or top with whipped cream
