Another Lane Cake!

My sister Nancy has submitted her

Lane Cake 
entry for this year's bake off.

She wrote such a first-rate post

for her own blog,

I have lifted her pictures and text

to share with you.

Consider Nancy our "guest contributor" today!

"Yes, it's that time of year again. 

 The annual

 Davidson Family

Cake Bake Off."

"This year my sister in law, Pat picked the cake, a deep south

tradition, The Lane Cake."

"Lane Cake was new to me so I went to Google.

When I read it was mentioned in Harper Lee's

"To Kill A Mockingbird",

well, that's all I needed to be

 ALL IN."

"TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is one of my

favorite books and defiantly my favorite movie."

"Miss Maudie Atkinson baked a Lane cake so loaded 

with shiny it made me tight"

Scout Finch."

"There are many versions the

 Alabama State Cake,

I went with a traditional version.

When I printed off my recipe and found it was

four pages long,

I knew I was in trouble.

My recipe states this cake gets better the longer

it's stored in the frig, hence the shiny.

I used bourbon."

"Day one was about baking the cakes.

Mine called for three layers.

It is a sponge cake and called for eight egg whites."

"Day two made the filling.  

Eight egg yokes, sugar, raisins, nuts, flavoring, coconut,

and of course the spirits,

only a half cup."

"Quite tasty, but even with just half a cup...

pretty strong."

"Now into the refrigerator to do its thing

for at least two days and up to two weeks.

After that the frosting."

"Day four...I couldn't wait any longer.

Today I made the boiled frosting, something

I've never done before."

"I've also never used a candy thermometer

in fact I had to borrow this one from Susan.

This cake has been fun to make, I've had to step up 

and learn some new skills.

I'm not so sure about this boiled frosting...not sure how it 

should look or what the correct thickness is but

it is what it is."

"The Lane Cake.

You can find this recipe here.

Father's Day is this Sunday and that's when I'll cut this beauty.

I'll let you know what everyone thinks."

Thanks Nancy!

Now an update.

Yes, the cake was cut on

Father's Day

and I happen to be visiting

so I got to enjoy the cake too.

The cake had "seasoned" in the

refrigerator for a few days

before cutting 

and we were

surprised to discover

the boiled icing had ...

maybe waited longer 

than it wanted.

When Nancy took it out of the refrigerator

she discovered the icing had begun

to "drip" down the sides of the cake.

Nothing much to do except

scape off the excess icing,

which gave the cake an interesting

new look!

It certainly did not detract from the taste of the cake.

Nancy's assessment was that

the cake was too dense and a bit dry,

but "tasted okay."

She had never done many of the processes

used to make the cake so did not know

exactly what to expect for its

look, consistency and how it should taste.

And although it was fun,

she probably will not make the cake again. 

Have you ever made a Lane Cake?

If so, I would love to hear about it

and share some pictures!

Rick's "Lane Cake"

We have our second cake in the

2019 Summer Bake Off:  The Lane Cake

Here's the proud baker, my brother Rick,

who makes his home in Germany,
with his wife Terry.

Although he insists it's "still a Lane,"

he used "real butter cream between the layers."

(Does that qualify as a Lane,

which is a vanilla butter cake

with a fruit rich custard filling?

Asking for a friend.)

He DOES get extra points for creativity

because he did not use a recipe,

but rather "looked at a whole lot of

recipes and built my own."

Rick is a devotee of

The Great British Bake Off

and used Mary Berry's

boiled icing.

Rick's assessment of his cake,

"Really good. Really rich.

Between the frosting

and the butter cream between the layers,

we are talking two cups of butter."

How could it not be good???

from Google Images

I have just finished an excellent book,

LOST ROSES

by Martha Hall Kelly.

About one third into this book

it kept reminding me of

LILAC GIRLS,"

which I read last year.

So I checked the author and yes, 

she wrote that one too.

It deals with a real historical figure, Eliza Ferriday,

the mother of Caroline Ferriday from LILAC GIRLS.

Although considered a prequel

to the earlier novel,

both books stand very well on their own.

This week in the garden
I cut back the iris.
They were magnificent this year
and I hated to see them end.

This is how they looked a few weeks ago.

It's June!
It's summer!
Hope you're enjoying it!