(NEXSTAR) – Dolly Parton may have her own line of Duncan Hines cake mixes, but she’s said to prefer a different treat on her birthday.
Parton, who celebrates her 78th birthday on Jan. 19, is famously a fan of pie, having shared her favorite holiday recipe (and others via her own “Baking with Dolly” Pinterest board) and even releasing a song about it.
It only makes sense, then, that she’d enjoy a slice or two on her birthday.
“I don’t eat much cake. I usually have pie on my birthday,” Parton once told the Knoxville News Sentinel, specifying chess pie as her personal favorite.
“That is 'chess' not CHEST pie," she joked to the outlet.
Parton, however, has been known to indulge in sweets aside from pie. In years past, Parton (via Pinterest, her website, or her blog) has named several other favorites, including pecan brownies, peanut butter brownies and, of course, her signature banana pudding, among others. She also published a cookbook in 2006 — “Dolly’s Dixie Fixins” — featuring recipes inspired by some of her favorite meals.
"I still like to try new foods as often as I can,” she said upon the release of the cookbook. “But when it comes to cooking for myself and my husband Carl and my great big extended family, which numbers into the multiple hundreds these days, what we really want to eat is what comforts us most: good, hearty food rooted in Mama’s cooking and those country gatherings of my childhood.”
Dollywood, Parton’s namesake theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, is also well known for their sweets, including fudge, ice cream, and the Grist Mill’s cinnamon bread. The park doesn't do anything special to celebrate her birthday — it's actually closed every year between January and March — but staffers and guests are welcome to celebrate Parton's legacy year-round.
"While we don’t do anything specific to celebrate, our Dreamer-in-Chief’s birthday gives us all a reason to be thankful for her and all she does to inspire us to provide the best experience we can deliver to our guests when the park is open," a representative for the park told Nexstar.
Parton, meanwhile, is celebrating her 78th with the release of her recent "Rockstar" album's deluxe edition.
“I’m releasing four never-released songs for my birthday, to go with the ‘Rockstar’ album, and a few others that you may have heard before that were not on the album,” Parton wrote on social media early Friday morning. “I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you all have a happy birthday for me!”
