Meet 'Have Some More Cake': The Pennsylvania Dutch dessert that's part pie, part cake

I tried the five-ingredient recipe—here's what worked.

Modern recipes include detailed steps so readers can follow along exactly as the author intended. As a food writer, I spend most of my days carefully writing directions, thinking through every action.

Older recipes often provide far less guidance. Sometimes, they don't even include a complete ingredient list. My editor recently pointed me to a vintage recipe from 1958 in "The New Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book" called Have Some More Cake. It uses just a few ingredients—mostly pantry and refrigerator staples—and promises a pie-like dessert with a dump cake-style custard. If you are reading this and thinking the recipe seems a bit chaotic, I felt the same way.

Yet, lately, I've tried a bunch of vintage recipes that have turned out beautifully, so I was still excited to give this one a try. Below, you'll find the recipe, my thoughts on how it turned out, and a few tweaks I recommend if you decide to make it yourself.

How To Make 'Have Some More Cake'

The instructions in "The New Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book" are vague, so I had to read between the lines to understand the recipe directions fully.

1. Start by making the dough: combine 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup shortening, and 1/4 cup butter. The recipe did not specify whether to use cold or softened butter, so I used chilled butter to create a flakier crust. I mixed the ingredients with a pastry cutter until the fat formed pea-sized clumps, then briefly kneaded the dough, shaped it into a ball, and refrigerated it for an hour.
2. Once the dough was chilled, I rolled it to 1/3-inch thickness on a floured surface and fitted it into a buttered 8-inch pan.
3. Next, sift 1/2 cup flour, 4 tablespoons sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon into the pie pan, then pour 1 1/2 cups heavy cream over the flour mixture, and dot it with 1 tablespoon butter. I followed the instructions, thinking it would work like a dump cake, but, in truth, I was a bit worried about how the pie would turn out.
4. I baked the pie in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 45 minutes, then let it cool slightly before cutting a slice.

The crust turned out beautifully: flaky, tender, and something I will definitely use again for future pies. The filling was less consistent. Some bites were custardy and cinnamony, while others felt gummy and underseasoned, like pieces of a doughy biscuit. But I wouldn't dismiss the recipe entirely—keep reading for tips on how I would improve it.

How To Improve the 'Have Some More Cake' Recipe

This recipe had some flaws. Here are the tweaks I would make to reimagine it:

• Use a blondie filling. Similar to a brownie pie, fill this Have Some More Cake crust with blondie batter. The result gives bites of buttery, flaky crust with a moist blondie center.
• Stuff it with cake. To have this recipe live up to its name, use the original crust and fill the center with boxed cake mix. Doing this creates a combination of tender crust and tender cake. Top it with homemade whipped cream for extra indulgence.
• Add a chess pie center. The filling in this Have Some More Cake recipe resembles chess pie, a sweet, custard-like dessert. Make a chess pie filling instead and add a dash of cinnamon to capture the original flavor.

Read the original article on Allrecipes