| Lady Baltimore Cake |
Lady Baltimore cake is apopular Southern cake believed to have originated in South Carolina. It is awhite layer cake, made light with beaten egg whites, filled with raisins andnuts (and sometimes figs) and iced with a fluffy white frosting (typically a7-minute frosting, or meringue frosting). A Lord Baltimore cake, similar to aLady Baltimore cake, uses egg yolks in the cake rather than egg whites withadded crumbled macaroons and almonds in the filling.
Accordingto Cassie L. Damewood at the websiteWisegeek.com: “The story of how the Lady Baltimore Cake got its name varies.Since there is no mention of it in literature or evidence of it being a recipeprior to 1906, it is unlikely it had anything to do with the real LadyBaltimore. Ann Arundel, who died in 1649, was called Lady Baltimore because shewas married to an Irishman man who inherited the whole state of Maryland in theUnited States (U.S.), including its large city of Baltimore, from his father. Interestingly,she never visited the North American continent, just as Lord Baltimore neverdid.
The most likelyorigin of the Lady Baltimore Cake was a romance novel entitledLady Baltimore, written by Owen Wister andpublished in 1906. Legend has it that prior to writing the book, Wister hadbeen given a cake by a southern belle from Charleston, South Carolina, namedAlicia Rhett Mayberry. The confection so impressed him that he included it inhis novel…Wister’s description of the cake’s appearance and taste was soappealing that readers of the novel were desperate to get the recipe. Since ithad not been created, bakers set out to create a cake that mimicked Wister’sexcited yet vague description from the book.”
In his novel, Wister wrote:
"I should like a slice, if you please, of LadyBaltimore," I said with extreme formality. I returned to the table and shebrought me the cake, and I had my first felicitous meeting with Lady Baltimore.Oh, my goodness! Did you ever taste it? It's all soft, and it's in layers, andit has nuts - but I can't write any more about it; my mouth waters too much.Delighted surprise caused me once more to speak aloud, and with my mouth full,"But, dear me, this is delicious!"
*****
Thefirst printed recipe is said to have appeared on December 24th 1906 in theDaily GazetteAnd Bulletinnewspaper of Williamsport,Pennsylvania (shocking!):
LadyBaltimore Cake (1906)
Beat the whites of six eggs. Take a cup and a half of granulated sugar, a cupof milk, nearly a cup of butter, three cups of flour and two teaspoonfuls ofgood baking powder. Sift the flour and baking powder together into the otheringredients, adding the eggs last of all. Bake in two buttered pans for fifteenor twenty minutes.
For the frosting: Two cups of granulated sugar and a cup and a half of water,boil until stringly, about five minutes usually does it. Beat the whites of twoeggs very light, and pour the boiling sugar slowly into it, mixing well. Takeout of this enough for the top and sides of the cake, and stir into theremainder for the filling between the two layers, one cup of finely choppedraisins and a cup of chopped nuts. This is delicious when properly baked.
Lady Baltimore Cake (1952)
Quick-Mix Method
Rich, fruit-nut Lady Baltimore filling andfrosting decorate this queenly three-egg-white cake. Blend shreds of coconutright into the batter, for a change, to give you a rich, chewy treat.
BAKE at 350° F. for 25 to 30 minutes.
MAKES two 8-inch round layers.
All ingredients should be at room temperature.
Sift together.. . 2 cups siftedPillsbury Sno Sheen Cake Flour
2 1/2 teaspoons double-actingbaking powder
1 teaspoonsalt
1 1/4 cupssugar
Add. . . 1/2cupshortening
3/4 cupmilk
Beat. . . for 2minutes, 300 strokes, until batter is well blended. (With electric mixer blendat low speed, then beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.)
Add. . . 1teaspoonvanilla
3egg whites, unbeaten
Beat. . . for 2minutes.
Pour. . . intotwo well-greased and lightly floured 8-inch round layer pans, at least 1 1/4inches deep.
Bake. . . inmoderate oven (350° F.) 25 to 30 minutes. Cool and frost with Lady Baltimorefrosting, page 51.
COCONUT SURPRISE CAKE
Prepare Lady Baltimore Cake, folding in 3/4 cup shreddedcoconut (chopped slightly if shreds are long) before pouring into pans. Frostwith almond frosting, page 51.
(SOURCE: pg. 20, “Kate Smith chooses her 55 Favorite AnnPillsbury CAKE RECIPES” published in 1952 by Pillsbury Mills, Inc.)
Lady Baltimore Cake (pre-1980)
For cake
8 oz. butter, softened to room temperature
14 oz. sugar
¼ oz. vanilla extract
¼ oz. almond extract
13 oz. cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. salt
8 oz. milk
7 oz. egg whites
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mixin vanilla and almond extract, scraping down the bowl often.
Sift together dry ingredients.
Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk to thebutter/sugar mixture. Mix to smooth consistency.
In clean bowl, whip eggs whites and cream of tartar. Slowlyadd sugar. Whip to soft peaks. Fold whipped whites into reserved batter.
Divide mixture into three 9-inch cake pans. Bake at 375degrees F for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cakes cool on wire rack.
For icing
16 oz. sugar
6 oz. water
pinch of cream of tartar
6 oz. egg whites
¼ oz. vanilla extract
Combine sugar, water, and cream of tartar in saucepan. Use acandy thermometer to cook the sugar to 265 degrees F.
Whip egg whites on high speed to medium peaks.
Very slowly pour cooked sugar into whipped egg white. Whipto slightly cool. Add vanilla.
For filling
3 oz. pecans, lightly toasted
5 oz. dried fruit, chopped
(raisins, figs, currants, candied cherry)
Combine ingredients. Reserve for cake assembly.
Assembling Lady Baltimore cake:
Transfer one-third of the frosting to a medium bowl. Stirfruit-and-nut filling into the frosting.
Place one cake layer on a serving plate, and add half thefrosting-and-filling mixture. Add a second cake layer on top. Spread secondlayer with remaining frosting-and-filling. Place third layer on top. Frost topand sides of cake with plain frosting.
Garnish with dried fruit and nuts.
(SOURCE: Recipe by Chef JanBandula, Stratford University's Baltimore campus; via http://chesapeaketaste.com/index.php/recipes/665-recipe-lady-baltimore-cake)
Seven Minute Frosting (1949)
2 unbeaten egg whites
1 ½ cup sugar
dash of salt
5 TB water
1 ½ tsp light Karo corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
Combine all ingredients in top ofdouble boiler. Mix well. Place over rapidly boiling water; beatconstantly with rotary egg beater and cook 7 minutes or until stands inpeaks. Re move from the water. Add 1tsp vanilla and beat until thick. Makesenough to cover tops and sides of two nine inch layer cakes or one loafcake. Orange juice can be used insteadof water and add grated orange rind and yellow coloring. This makes a good orange frosting. Coconut can be added in plain white.
(SOURCE: Recipe by Maebelle F.Stokes, from Favorite Recipes Tried and True, compiled by WesleyanService Guild, Methodist Church, Reform, AL, 1949)
