The Sweet Secret of Maple Shade Road: Finding the Perfect Oatmeal Cake
BIRD-IN-HAND, PA — If you drive too fast down the winding backroads of Lancaster County, past the endless patchwork of tobacco fields and corn stalks, you will miss it. You have to be looking for the small, hand-painted sign at the end of a long gravel lane that simply reads: “The Speckled Hen Pantry & Bakery – Open Thu-Sat.”
It was here, about three miles off the main tourist drag of Route 340, that I discovered what I can only describe as a transcendental dessert experience. I was searching for authenticity, trying to escape the mass-produced “Amish-style” treats found in the highway gift shops. I wanted the real thing. I wanted the food that fuels barn raisings and Sunday church gatherings.
I found it at The Speckled Hen (240 Maple Shade Rd, Bird-in-Hand, PA), in the form of a humble, incredibly moist square of oatmeal cake that tasted like history…