Amish Shoofly Cake is a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch dessert known for its rich, molasses flavor and crumbly topping. If you've had a chance to visit Lancaster County Amish country you might be familiar with shoofly pie. Amish Shoofly cake is similar to shoofly pie. It is a deliciously moist molasses cake.
Shoofly cake has many of the same ingredients as the pie, including the rich molasses flavor. But unlike pie - it's quicker, easier, and less intimidating to make. So if you're craving that classic taste without the extra effort, this easy shoofly cake recipe comes together fast and bakes up beautifully.
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Ingredients
- Brown Sugar adds sweetness and moisture to the batter. Its molasses content deepens the flavor and gives the cake its rich taste.
- Butter, Shortening, or Lard adds moisture and richness, creating a tender crumb. (I often use a mix of butter and shortening or lard.)
- All-Purpose Flour provides structure and holds the cake together.
- Boiling Water dissolves the molasses and sugar for a smooth batter and helps activate the baking soda for proper rise.
- Baking Soda reacts with the acidic molasses to create bubbles, helping the cake rise light and airy.
- Golden Barrel Unsulfured Baking Molasses (or another mild, light-tasting molasses) is the star ingredient, giving shoofly cake its signature flavor, deep sweetness, and moist texture.
- Salt enhances and balances the flavors. (I use sea salt.)
These ingredients come together to create a deliciously moist and flavorful no-egg cake with a unique molasses filling and a crumbly topping, perfect for enjoying as a dessert or with a cup of coffee or tea.
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How to Make Amish Molasses Cake
Shoofly cake is super easy to make.
- Prepare the Molasses Mixture:
- Combine boiling water and baking soda in a bowl.
- Add molasses and salt to the mixture. Mix well. (It will fizz.)
- Set the molasses mixture aside to cool slightly while you prepare the crumbs.
- Make the Crumbs:
- Mix brown sugar, flour, and butter (or fat of choice) in a separate large bowl.
- Use a pastry blender, or your Kitchen Aid mixer with the paddle attachment, to crumble until the mixture resembles fine sand-like crumbs.
- Reserve 2 cups of these crumbs for the topping.
- Combine and Assemble:
- Mix the slightly cooled molasses mixture with the remaining crumbs until well combined. The batter will be runny.
- Pour the mixture into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Evenly scatter the reserved 2 cups of crumbs over the top, starting from the edges and working towards the center.
- Bake the Cake:
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few crumbs.
- Cool and Serve:
- Allow the cake to cool before cutting and serving. Enjoy your molasses crumb cake!
Storage
You can store this cake at room temperature for at least a week. It's never lasted any longer than that at my house, so I don't know exactly how long it will last.
But if you don't think you'll get it all eaten within a week, I would suggest putting a few pieces into an airtight container and freezing it to keep it fresh for later.
Pennsylvania Shoofly Cake
Shoofly cake and shoofly pie are both very popular with the Lancaster County Amish.
Many Amish homes serve shooflies for breakfast. We always ate ours covered in milk, almost like it was cereal. We poured milk on to add moisture to the dry crumbs that were on the top. And I still like to eat it with milk, although I like it even more with a cup of coffee.
This shoofly cake recipe is great to eat at any time of the day or night :). I love it with coffee for breakfast, but you can also serve it for dessert with any meal.
I didn't make any shoofly for a long time, and I forgot how much I love it! It is addicting! Whenever I make it, I can't stop eating it. I make this shoofly cake frequently because it takes very little time and effort to make, and I am in love with it. I know, it's not healthy and I shouldn't eat it. But it's so good!!
What Kind of Molasses Should I Use?
My favorite molasses comes from the Golden Barrel Molasses Company in Honey Brook, PA (my hometown). We always used their baking molasses, which is some of the best light-tasting molasses ever, and it can often be found in Amish and Mennonite bulk food stores.
I hadn't really thought about it before, but having grown up Amish in Lancaster County, we ate quite a bit of molasses in different recipes that we often used. And I love the flavor of molasses, especially in baked goods.
Some of the Amish make their church peanut butter spread with Karo syrup, but we always made ours with molasses. Find my Amish peanut butter recipe here.
King syrup is another good light-tasting option, although it's technically syrup and not molasses. I don't recommend using blackstrap molasses unless you love that bitter flavor.
More Amish Cake Recipes
Amish shoofly cake is one of those simple Pennsylvania Dutch recipes that never goes out of style. With its rich molasses flavor and crumbly topping, it's easy to see why it's been a longtime favorite in Lancaster County kitchens.
Whether you serve it for breakfast with coffee or as a comforting dessert, this moist Amish molasses cake with crumbs is always a hit. If you try it, I'd love to hear what you think - leave a comment and star rating below! Thank you!
📖 Recipe Card
Amish Shoofly Cake
Ingredients
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ¼ cups Golden Barrel unsulfured baking molasses (or any light-tasting molasses)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 scant cups brown sugar
- 1 cup butter (or shortening)
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Combine the boiling water and baking soda, then add the molasses and salt. Mix well and set aside to cool while you prepare the crumbs.1 ¼ cups Golden Barrel unsulfured baking molasses (or any light-tasting molasses), 2 cups boiling water, 2 ½ teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt
- In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, and butter with a pastry blender until you have fine crumbs like sand.2 scant cups brown sugar, 4 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup butter (or shortening)
- Reserve two cups of the crumbs for the top.
- Mix the molasses mixture with the remaining crumbs. And pour this into a greased 9x13" baking dish.
- Starting at the edges, scatter the reserved 2 cups of crumbs over the top.
- Bake for about 45 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs. Cool and enjoy.
Anna
So easy and delicious!
Richard
I had an Amish Dessert Cookbook and found a recipe like this in there. After Reading the recipe, I found it was just like the one I had. I have made this more than 10+ times. VERY TASTY!!!
Anna
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.
Alice L
Although my 91 year old father has lived in California for over 50 years, he still loves the food from his birth state. Today he had out of town company coming so at the last minute I decided to make a coffee cake. None of the recipes were interesting; then I googled molasses cake. When this recipe popped up, I knew this was the one I had to try. He LOVED it. That is saying A LOT. He asked how I got the bottom moist? I just followed the recipe. Our friends LOVED it too, so much so, they jumped when I offered some to take home. The balance, old Dad wanted to share with his friends at Assisted Living. My poor husband didn't even get any. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture, but it did look like the one you have, crumbs nicely on top.
Anna
I'm always happy to hear that people enjoy my recipes.
Diane
My crumbs sank into the cake too. So I prepared another batch of crumbs and baked them separately for about 10 minutes and put them on the cooled cake.
Anna
I'm sorry they sank for you. Did you cool the liquid part at all before adding the crumbs?? I'm still trying to figure out the reason why sometimes they sink and sometimes they don't. I figured it might be if the liquid is too hot. I've checked all my Amish recipes, they're all similar and never say to cool it, but I'm confused why it happens?
Joel
Just made this for the first time. Took 50 minutes and most of the crumbs stayed on top. Can’t wait to try this. I Love shoofly pie.
Michele Whitenight
I love this recipe. This cake is so delicious and moist. My only problem is 75% of my crumbs sink. I have tried keeping more crumbs out, I have tried baking it 15min. then putting more crumbs on it, but neither of the options have worked. Do u have any ideas. Thanks
Anna
To tell you the truth, I have baked this cake numerous times and it never turns out exactly the same. I've been trying to figure out what makes the difference and I have not gotten it figured out yet. It's always good, just not exactly the same.
Bridget
Just wanted to say I was born and raised in Lancaster (still live here, near Mountville) and really love your blog if recipes! I also enjoyed reading your story. Glad you decided to take up blogging 🙂 I’ve always appreciated a good, home-cooked meal and I know the local PA Dutch make some amazing foods!
Anna
Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it.
Bonnie
EASY. and just like a true wet bottom pie but in cake form without rolling dough. 9 x13 pan means larger quantity at one time baking it.
Bonnie
SO glad to find this cake versus pie recipe for shoo fly. Made this cake using Golden Barrel Supreme unsulfured baking molasses in 9x13 aluminum cake pan. 45 min at 350. Since i assume you have made this several times, would like your suggestions for next time i make this. i see directions say 'about 45 min'. When i took out of oven at 45 min and did toothpick check in center of cake, toothpick came out clean so i assumed it was 'done'. However, when cutting the cake, the corner edges were runny without a crumb bottom (like a wet bottom shoo fly) but the closer you get to the center there is a perfect crumb bottom. So question is ... when you pour the hot liquid molasses mix over the crumb layer, even tho doing it slowly, should it be perhaps be cooled down a little first ? It was hard to decide to let it bake a little longer since center was perfect and the dark color (from molasses) that comes thru on the edges when taking out of oven makes you think 'it's done on edges'. Perhaps it was even my thicker bottom aluminum pan causing this. Anyhow... this turned out as a perfect wet bottom pie in cake form if omitting about 4 inches in from the 9 x 13 pan runny areas.
Anna
Honestly, I made this three times in the past few months. Each time it turned out a little differently. I will play around more with this recipe to see if I can figure out what makes the difference. Sometimes it's wetter on the bottom than others. I will try mixing my crumbs and liquid, except some for the top. I'll adjust the recipe as I figure it out.
Anna
I adjusted the recipe a bit. Try it out to see if you like it better.
Bonnie
made AGAIN and turned out great. and the last time, i divided the batter into three 2 lb aluminum loaf pans and baked at same time in oven and they all came out perfectly. had one to eat, one to freeze and one to give away.
Hazel
I purchased the black strap molasses. What is the difference between it and the baking molasses. Can they be used interchangeably?
BTW, I’m from Lancaster & Chester counties in PA. We moved to TN 7 years ago. I’m enjoying your blog.
Anna
Blackstrap molasses has a lot stronger flavor. You may want to add corn syrup to it to tame it down a bit unless you love that strong flavor. I'm glad you are enjoying my blog!