Monday, June 24, 2019

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!






Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Rick's "Lane Cake"


We have our second cake in the
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!
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