Recipe: One History of the Stack Cake for Sarah-USA

Here is what I have found:

The stack cake is a specialty of Appalachia which many credit to James Harrod, founder of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, home of the Beaumont Inn. According to legend, the stack cake served as a replacement for a fancy (and expensive) wedding cake for the early settlers of the mountains. Neighbors would bring in cake layers to donate to the bride's family, and the family would spread the apple filling on the layers as they arrived. The number of layers was seen as a measurement of the popularity of the bride.

The Stack Wedding cake:

Like most rituals handed down through the ages, a wedding wouldn't be complete without fertility symbols, like the wedding cake. Ancient Romans would bake a cake made of wheat or barley and break it over the bride's head as a symbol of her fertility. Over time, it became traditional to stack several cakes on top of one another. The bride and groom would then be charged to kiss over this tower without knocking it over. If they were successful, a lifetime of good fortune was certain for the new couple. Finally, during the reign of King Charles II of England, it became customary for such a cake to be iced with sugar.

This was a part of the traditional Scottish wedding, and many Scottsmen settled in the Kentucky, Tennessee, and other Appalachian regions.