Mâche-pain was my father’s favorite cake and no one could make it as well as his sister, Francis Hebert Guidry. The delightful thing about a mâche-pain is its wonderful sticky gooeyness, and the rich but usually not-too-sweet flavor of the topping.
What is a Cajun Cake?
Although I suspect that the name refers to mâcher, which means to chew (it’s a chewy dessert), mâche-pain literally means “mashed bread” and it only becomes a mâche-pain after the warm topping is applied to a still-warm cake which is then allowed to cool. The topping and the cake meld to become one. There are several versions of mâche-pain; probably as many as there are Cajun sir names in Acadiana’s phonebooks.
Favorite Mâche-pain Recipe
My dad was particularly fond of my marraine Nanny Francis’ version. Instead of using a sheet cake pan, she would bake her cakes in two round cake pans to make a layered mâche-pain—using a Steen’s Cane Molasses base topped with a syrupy warm cocoa, pecan and coconut topping. Ça c'est bon, oui!
Molassas Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Steen’s Dark Molasses
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (measure after sifting)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup milk
Instructions
- Grease and flour two 8” layer cake pans.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients except the sugar.
- In a second bowl, beat eggs and sugar until creamy.
- Add the molasses and oil to the second bowl and mix well.
- Pour dry ingredients into the wet mixture and beat for 100 strokes, or about three minutes with a mixer set at medium speed.
- Add the milk and vanilla, stirring to combine well. It is important not to over-beat this batter.
- Pour into prepared cake pans and bake until done. A toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.
- Remove cakes from pan while still warm.
- Place one cake layer on a cake plate and slather with half of the mâche-pain topping (below).
- Stack the second cake layer on top of the first, and top with all of the remaining topping.
- Allow to cool before serving with ice-cold milk.
Mâche-pain Cake Topping
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 3 - 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (to taste)
- 2/3 cup evaporated milk
- ½ cup flaked coconut
- ½ cup pecans, chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine the first six ingredients in a saucepan.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Stir in the vanilla extract.
- Spoon topping over the still-warm cake layers as described above.
- Garnish with additional flaked coconut if desired.
Maria Blanco - Writer/Editor, Certified Family Herbalist, Naturopath, Holistic Nutritional Consultant
Join the Conversation