Shoofly Cake

Many, many years ago (15 maybe?) Tom and I took a trip from Ontario to Nova Scotia, dipping down through the northern US on our way. One night we stayed at a bed and breakfast in southern Vermont that was owned by a couple who had Pennsylvania Dutch relations in their family. The lady of the house served shoofly pie at breakfast, and Tom immediately fell in love (with the pie...he was already in love with me. 😊)

Neither one of us had even heard of it before so we had no idea that this shoofly pie was different than most. When we got home Tom asked his mom to make one for him and it was definitely not the same. The standard shoofly pie is like a sugar pie or pecan pie, dense and sweet, but made with molasses instead of corn or maple syrup. The one we were served at the B&B was more like a cake - high and fluffy with a crumble on top.

Ever since then I've been trying to replicate that elusive formula without much to go on. And this past weekend, I think I did it. I combined the standard elements of the pie - molasses, baking soda, and boiling water - with that of a yellow cake batter.

I didn't tell Tom what I was making as I wanted to see if I'd even come close. He took a bite, I asked him what it was, and he immediately knew it was shoofly pie. Winner, Winner!

Since it turned out so well, I'm feeling confident enough to share it with you, too.

What I really liked about this, besides how moist it was, was that the molasses flavour wasn't overpowering - and the cake wasn't too sweet. Next time I might add just a little bit more sugar and some butter to the topping so that it gets crispy in the oven.

Last night we had some more with vanilla bean ice cream on the side. Perfect!