It’s not funny in the way a clown’s face is. Nor is it anywhere near as funny as a good stand-up com-edy routine. But it IS funny in the ‘odd’ sense. Which is undoubtedly why its Pennsylvania Dutch cre-ators named it ‘Funny Cake…
Nevertheless… There’s nothing funny about its simplicity and ease of preparation. You’ll be suitably impressed. And your family and friends will be delighted you took seriously the notion to make this fun – if not really ‘funny’ – dessert…
Put on your apron…
You almost certainly have everything you need to make this chock-tastic treat in your pantry already. I love dishes like that!
Just cue up the cocoa powder, sugar, flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, butter and vanilla, and get ‘a goin’!
What you do
This deceptively simple recipe has just four steps. Really.
First, you mix up the chocolate filling mixture.
Then you mix up the cake batter.
Then you put them together in waiting, unbaked 9 in / 22.5 cm pie shells.
And, finally, you bake them in a pre-heated 350 F oven for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the classic toothpick test tells you the cake is done.
Let the finished ‘cake’ rest for a few minutes before serving, to allow the chocolate filling to set before cutting.
My take
Perhaps the funniest thing about this ‘cake’ is that it’s actually a pie. But it’s filled with cake, whose chocolate icing on the bottom… You’ve got to admit, that’s pretty odd, for sure!
I love this dessert for another reason, too: It never fails to stir up a conversation about food!
~ Maggie J.