What’s so funny about this cake? IS it a cake? Or pie should I say? Well, for starters, the layers magically reverse while baking. That’s funny.
The chocolate fudge and cake layers do a little switcheroo dance during baking, similar to my Chocoflan recipe. Oh what fun!
I found the Funny Cake Pie recipe in the Mennonite Community Cookbook (Amazon affiliate link) sent to me by lovely Sarah. And from what I’ve been told by her, just about every Mennonite kitchen has a copy of this book on hand.
The author of this recipe, Barbara Moyer of Telford, Pennsylvania, calls for you to first make a pie crust. (I used Pam’s Perfect Pie Crust from the Pioneer Woman which you can find here, or you can watch my strawberry-rhubarb pie video in which I make the same crust.)
Now some funny cake recipes have the chocolate layer poured on the bottom with the cake batter on top, while others call for the chocolate on top, so you can witness the magic layer switcheroo during baking.
So in a slight deviation from Barbra’s recipe, we’ll be putting the chocolate layer on top and the cake batter layer on the bottom, so we can witness the layer reversal — which is a big part of the allure of this recipe for me!
After that, it’s pretty straightforward. Just make your two layers and bake.
Happy Baking, lovelies!
Mennonite Funny Cake Pie
Equipment
- Conventinal oven
- 2 mixing bowls
- hand mixer
- 9" pie dish or pan
Ingredients
Lower Part
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup shortening
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Top Part
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 1/3 cup hot water
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 1 pie crust see above link for Pam's Perfect Pie Crust
Instructions
Lower Part
- Mix lower part like you would cake batter, creaming fat, and adding sugar and egg.
- Add milk alternately with your sifted dry ingredients.
Top Part
- Combine sugar and cocoa.
- Add hot water and vanilla.
Building Your Pie
- Line pie plate with pastry.
- Add lower part first, then pour top part over it.
- Bake at 375℉ for about 40 minutes.
- Makes 1 (9 inch) pie.
Hello
I just love all the recipes you post. For this one, can I use butter instead of shortening?
Do you think it will be good without the pie crust?
I follow recipe , the cake didn’t get brown at top. The crust was burnt. It does taste good, Don’t know what went wrong,
The bottom layer batter was more of a brownie consistency than a cake. And the layers didn’t invert – so I have a thin crunchy chocolate layer on top. I was disappointed – we used to make funny cake pie when I was growing up and I tried this recipe for Thanksgiving.
Just a few comments…the ingredients are the same as a 3rd generation PA Dutch family recipe however, it is never called “Funny Cake Pie”-it is simply “Funny Cake.”
The 2 differences are that the syrup(cocoa, sugar & water) should be boiled for 5 minutes and the chocolate syrup is poured in 1st on the bottom, then cake batter on the top. I have one in the oven right now!
Love this idee would love to try and make this, where do i find recipe for crust please
Leigh-Ann Rowe Vermaak
Go to thepioneerwoman.com and search for Pam’s Pie Tutorial.
What does “creaming fat” mean in the recipe for Mennonite Funny Cake?
I have been making this for over 50 years…. It’s a real family favorite. My mother in law gave me the recipe when I first met her back in 1969, and she had been making it for many years before that. We always put the cake batter on the bottom, and pour the chocolate sauce on top, when it bakes, the chocolate sinks to the bottom, and you end up with a nice fudgy layer on the bottom as well as a little bit of a chocolate on top. I still make these and everyone still loves them
Do you bake the pie crust before you add the cake mix?