Top: Strawberry Jam Stack Cake from Sweet Auburn Desserts, photo by Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn. Here’s the recipe. Middle photo from TheSimpleElements.com. Here’s the recipe. Bottom photo from Maman Bakery Cafe | NYC.

What’s a stack cake?

STACK CAKE HISTORY

Stack cake is an old-fashioned concept from the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It originated as a wedding cake alternative in that economically-challenged region.

Each guest or family would bring a layer for the cake, and the bride’s family would provide the filling. The layers would be assembled at the party.

The result: a rustic layer cake with no icing but lots of heart.

Beyond weddings, stack cake parties were another way for people to get together to exchange recipes and gossip.

Many types of cake layers could be brought, from sponge-like layers to cookie-like layers. In order stop the typical seven or eight layers from toppling over, each layer was sometimes pressed very flat.

These days, another un-iced cake, called naked cake, is enjoying its moment. Unlike stack cake, the whole naked cake is made by one person, in one flavor. The sides of the cake aren’t iced, although the top usually is.

Rather than an economical way to assemble a cake, naked cake economizes on calories and labor, by not frosting the sides.

YOUR STACK CAKE PARTY

You never knew exactly how the layers would add up. Even if you told everyone to bring an eight-inch layer of yellow cake or chocolate cake…well, what are the odds that they’d match, even if you provided a recipe?

Besides, isn’t it more fun if to have a pot luck cake with different layers: carrot, chocolate, devil’s food, gingerbread, red velvet, vanilla and, well, we’d like a layer with big chocolate chunks?

All you have to do is:

February 2nd is National Tater Tot® Day.

Chefs nationwide have been putting their own twists on this American comfort food.

At The Eddy in New York City, the potato is blended with bacon prior to frying. The tots are served in a pool of mustard sauce, topped with pickled mustard seed and English pea purée (we substituted homemade basil mayonnaise).

The history of Tater Tots follows, along with:

> Check out 8 elevated tots recipes below.

> Also below, the year’s 30+ potato holidays.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of potatoes.

> The different types of potatoes: a photo glossary.
 
 
TATER TOTS HISTORY

Tater Tots are an American side dish made from deep-fried, grated potatoes. They are miniature croquettes: crisp little cylinders of hash brown-style potatoes. Tater is an dialect form of potato (first found in print in 1759), and “tots” came from their small size.

Although the name may seem generic, Tater Tots® is a registered trademark of Ore-Ida. Tater Tots were created in 1953 when Ore-Ida’s founders, brothers F. Nephi Grigg and Golden Grigg, were considering what to do with leftover slivers of cut-up potatoes from their French fries.

They chopped them up, mixed them with flour and seasonings, and pushed logs of the grated/mashed potato mixture through a form, slicing off and frying small pieces. The rest is history.

The Ore-Ida brand was acquired by H. J. Heinz Company in 1965.

Remember: If it isn’t Ore-Ida Tater Tots, it’s officially (and legally) called Potato Tots.
 
 
PICKLED MUSTARD SEEDS

What’s with pickled mustard seeds? Over the last year or so, they’ve become a trend with chefs, some of whom use them as a condiment with fatty foods (bacon, charcuterie, fried food, pastrami, etc.).

The Eddy paired them with their version of Tater Tots.

To make your own, follow this recipe from OurDailyBrine.com to make your own pickled mustard seeds.
 
 
10 MORE POTATO TOTS (TATER TOTS) RECIPES

 
 
A YEAR OF 30+ POTATO HOLIDAYS

[2] Pickled mustard seeds. Here’s the recipe (photo © OurDailyBrine.com).

[3] Fully Loaded Potato Tots. Here’s the recipe (photos #3 and #4 © Idaho Potato Commission).

 
Plus:

 

[5] Elevated Tots: Dungeness Crab And Bay Shrimp Potato Tots With Shaved Fennel Salad And Tiger Sauce. Here’s the recipe.
 
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*Pierogi are stuffed with mashed potatoes.
 

Celebrating Groundhog Day with coffee grounds. Photo courtesy Folgers.

The Italian artist Giulia Bernardelli doesn’t work in pastels or oils; she works in coffee. See her stunning work here.

For more images, go to Google Images and search for Giulia Bernardelli.

You may not be able to paint with spilled coffee, but you can try your skill with ground coffee.

Get an artist’s paintbrush, and fashion your picture as you may have once put magnetic hair on Wooly Willy.

What to do with your coffee groundhog? We have no idea; it’s just food fun.