Discover Funny Cake: The Dessert That Will Have Everyone Fighting for the Final Bite

Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine offers tasty dishes like pickled beets, eggs, and shoofly pie. However, there's one treat that's not always on display at the local Amish markets: Funny Cake. This homemade dessert blends fluffy vanilla cake with a luscious, gooey chocolate layer, all encased in a golden, buttery pie crust. It's a favorite among our readers, so I couldn't resist trying it out in my own kitchen.

The Dinogo user who shared our most popular Funny Cake recipe describes it as, 'baked in a pie crust with a chocolate 'funny' layer that sinks to the bottom while baking.' Reviewers rave about the dessert, calling it 'absolutely delicious' and 'a huge hit' every time they make it. With such glowing feedback, I gathered the ingredients for this classic Pennsylvania Dutch dessert and got started.

What Exactly is Pennsylvania Dutch Funny Cake?

Pennsylvania Dutch Funny Cake is a traditional Amish or Mennonite dessert that features a vanilla cake baked inside a nine-inch pie crust with a layer of chocolate sauce. The magic happens when you pour warm chocolate sauce over the cold cake batter and bake it—this causes the chocolate to sink to the bottom, creating a rich, gooey chocolate layer beneath the cake. The result? A moist vanilla cake baked into a buttery pie crust, with a perfect swirl of chocolate in every bite.

How to Prepare a Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Funny Cake

Making a Pennsylvania Dutch Funny Cake turned out to be simpler than I anticipated. I began by gently heating sugar, cocoa powder, water, and vanilla extract in a saucepan until it was nearly boiling. After setting the chocolate mixture aside, I prepared the cake batter by creaming sugar and butter, adding eggs and vanilla, and then mixing the wet ingredients with flour and baking powder.

For my Funny Cake, I used pre-made 9-inch pie crusts. The original recipe calls for three crusts, but after reading feedback from Dinogo reviewers, I opted for just two. As it turns out, they were right—two pie crusts were perfect for the amount of cake batter. Once the batter was in the crusts, I poured the chocolate mixture over the top and baked the pies at 350°F for about 40 minutes.

Helpful Tips for Baking a Pennsylvania Dutch Funny Cake

In addition to using only two pie crusts instead of three, I adjusted the baking time for this recipe. While the original instructions suggest baking for 25 to 35 minutes, I found that it took closer to 40 minutes at 350°F for the cake tester to come out clean.

Don’t stress if your chocolate mixture comes to a boil. Mine heated up quickly, so I simply moved the pan to a cooler burner and stirred it a few times to let it cool down slightly. The cakes turned out perfectly, with a wonderfully gooey chocolate layer at the bottom.

My Honest Take on Pennsylvania Dutch Funny Cake

When my two Funny Cakes came out of the oven, they looked absolutely stunning. The vanilla cakes had risen beautifully, with rich chocolate swirls throughout, all encased in a perfectly browned, buttery pie crust. I couldn’t wait to dig in.

True to its name, the Funny Cake was indeed a delightful surprise. The vanilla cake was light and sweet, with a subtle hint of vanilla, while the chocolate, which had mostly settled at the bottom, remained wonderfully gooey and moist—a delicious treat when cutting into the pie.

Later in the day, my teenage daughter, who isn’t usually a fan of desserts, walked into my office and asked, 'What are those pies on the counter?'

I told her, 'These are Amish Funny Cakes. You’ll probably enjoy them since they’re not overly sweet, and the pie crust has just the right amount of saltiness, giving the whole dish a nice balance of flavors.'

Later, I went into the kitchen and found that she had eaten not one, but two slices of Funny Cake. Considering she’s the type of kid who dislikes cake so much that we don’t even bother getting her one for her birthday, this was the highest form of praise Funny Cakes could receive in our house.