Funny Cake

It's a cake and a pie!?

It's Funny Cake from Pennsylvania Dutchland 1949.

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I am always up for making a vintage recipe that has got some kind of weirdness to it.  This dessert is a cake baked in a pie crust that also forms it's own magic bottom sauce layer!

I decided to go with the butterscotch sauce.  And take note that you pour the sauce over the top of the batter, not the crust before baking.  It somehow magically sinks to the bottom! I used chopped peanuts, but the original recipe image appears to have walnuts.

I did have a bit of a mishap with baking this dessert.  The batter vastly over expanded and spilled over, charring it's self to the bottom of the oven. Once I realized this was happening I quickly threw a baking sheet under the pie pan to catch the rest of it's copious spillage.  What ever hit the oven floor will eventually burn off as far as I am concerned.  I would approximate it spewed enough batter to make an entire second Funny Cake.  It could be my fault.  I don't always follow recipes to the letter, I see them as just a serving suggestion.  For one, I didn't use cake flour, just regular all purpose.  I think I have seen someplace that there is some mathematical equation/ magical incant to turn regular flour into cake flour, but I just don't care. I have been doing this for years and have never had a problem.  Another possible issue could have been my pie pan/crust was smaller than the original 1949 one.  I did use a 9 inch (pre-fab) crust as suggested, but theirs seems to have a deeper look to it.  I can only assume that the modern crusts are made more skimpy, and the savings certainly aren't passed on to me!  But, the batter that bailed was enough for an entire other pie, not just a extra centimeter.

Who knows what happened, and frankly I am not too concerned over.  I just thought I would give a fore warning.  The dessert that did manage to keep it's self in check was super yummy and I ate far too much of it!  I was even picking off bits from the cookie sheet that captured some of the cake geyser and munching on that too!