Kentucky Stack Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup molasses

1 cup buttermilk

4 cups all-purpose flour

3 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon crushed cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

3 cups thick applesauce

1 cup chopped pecans.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together, stir in molasses and stir well. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each. Add milk alternately with soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg and mix well. Add vanilla and lemon extract and stir again. The mixture will be stiff. Divide mixture into six balls. Place each one in a separate 8" cake pan, pat out to fill pan. (You will have to do 2or 3 at a time in order to bake 6 cakes; that's where the name of "Stack Cake" comes from.) Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes. When cool, stack layers with applesauce between layers, leaving top layer for frosting. Use Cream Cheese Frosting for the top and sides. Sprinkle top with chopped pecans.