Lane Cake...in Layman's Terms, "The Cake from Hell..."

I am coming in just under the wire

with my Lane Cake

for this year's family Bake Off.

I have been waiting for most of

the summer to make it

to serve to my knitting group

next time we met at my house.

Today was the day.

This cake was selected by my

sister in law, Pat...

with whom I have a bone to pick...

(Just kidding, Pat.)

This is a labor intensive cake to make.

There are four "from scratch" layers, 

and a cooked filling consisting of

dried peaches, coconut, toasted pecans and bourbon.

I did both of those tasks on Monday.

A cooked meringue frosting is the final step.

I did some reading on meringue frosting

and the general consensus is

that it's better served the day it is made.

Again, today was the day.

Never having made a meringue frosting before,

I followed the recipe to the letter.

You whisk together egg whites and sugar,

add some Karo Syrup and for my cake,

peach schnapps.

Then in a bowl over a pan 

of boiling water,

you beat with an electric mixer

(which I borrowed from my friend Anne)

 until "stiff glossy peaks form."

I never got to "glossy" but

there were stiff peaks.

Fearing I would burn the motor out

on Anne's mixer,

I decided to go ahead and frost.

You see above what it looked like.

For some reason it went "grainy" on me,

 and there wasn't enough to even 

cover the entire cake.

And it got rock hard as soon 

as it was on the cake.

I made a  quick consult with 

sister Nancy in Fayetteville

and brother Rick in Germany via 

What's App.

Nancy: "Scape it off and

make some butter cream."

Rick:  "Cut a big circle from the middle."

I did a combination of both their recommendations.

Here's my cake scraped and shaved.

Then, I made a quick trip to the 

grocery store.

At this point I was not about

to spend any more time 

making frosting for this cake!

I even bought some cookies,

just in case we couldn't eat the cake.

The Cake from Hell

in all its canned, butter cream glory.

My knitting group is composed of

dear friends.

We have been knitting together 

almost forever.

At any rate, they are very supportive

and ate the cake.

My friend Katherine, 

who is from South Alabama,

where this cake originated,

was even nice enough to say it

 "tasted the way it was supposed to taste."

(She KNOWS because her mother

used to make it every year at holiday time.)

I LOVE my friends.

(Btw, the cookies were not touched.)

Here is the link for the recipe I used.

In my opinion, the flavor was okay,

but the cake was quite crumbly.

This is an old fashioned cake

and I think our tastes have changed.

Or perhaps my cooking skills

have become a bit rusty...

...like several other things.

Anyhoo...bon apetit!

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!

Our First Lane Cake Entry!

It was my sister in law, 
Pat's turn to choose the cake
for this year's
Davidson Cake Bake Off.
Remember, this is not really
a  competition.
For the past several years
a cake has been chosen by one of us,
then my sister Nancy, brother Rick,
sister in law Pat and me
bake the cake, 
using a recipe of our choice.
(We all live miles apart,
so this has been a fun way
to "do something together.")
We then share our thoughts and pictures.

Pat's choice, 

The Lane Cake,

was first baked more than 100 years ago 

for the annual baking competition

at the county fair in Columbus, Georgia

by Emma Rylander Lane

of Clayton, Alabama.

It was the first prize winner!

Pat baked her choice,
one with a strawberry-pecan filling
and cream cheese frosting,
using a recipe from
TASTE OF THE SOUTH MAGAZINE.
It was a birthday cake for her husband, my brother Wade.

In Pat's words,

"The filling for this cake was a challenge,

but this was the first time

I had attempted making a filling.

I don't think I got it quite right,

it ran out the sides

when I was assembling the cake.

Overall, I think it turned

out pretty well.

It tasted good!"

Looks good to me Pat!

Come bake with us.

Bake your version of

The Lane Cake

and then share your

pictures, recipe and thoughts with me.

I, in turn, will share on my blog!

Bon appétit!

Catching Up

Is it possible?

Is Spring almost over?

I have let SO much time pass 

since my last post.

It has been a busy time at 

Buttermilk Cottage.

That's my only excuse.

In March I hosted two dear friends from college days.

Virginia, my roommate for three years,

who now lives in Texas,

and Marie, who lived across the hall

and now makes her home in Alabama.

We had a lovely visit of several days,

talking ourselves silly,

eating and visiting a few points of interest

near here.

 We made a trip to Abingdon, Virginia 

where the Barter Theatre

was doing CAMELOT.

What a treat to see the show,

which we had all seen together 

when it came out as a movie

all those years ago!

The challenge has been made for this year's

Great Davidson Bake Off.

This is an ongoing and yearly

friendly baking competition between

my sister Nancy, brother Rick,

sister in law Pat and

anyone else who wants to join us.

It's not a real competition because

we cannot taste each other's cake,

but we all bake the same cake,

and share our thoughts on it.

This year's cake choice was Pat's.

She has chosen the Lane Cake,

a traditional Southern cake

that has numerous variations.

Think about joining in with us.

All you need do is make the cake

with a recipe of your choice,

send me a picture or two 

along with your thoughts on the cake.

More about this later.

I have recently finished this book 

by Delia Owens.

It is a first novel,

a coming of age story of

Kya, the "marsh girl"

which takes place in North Carolina.

Her prose is lovely and lyrical.

I enjoyed it a lot

and you might too,

especially if you have an

interest in the natural world.

Finally, I am in the midst of this year's

home improvement project.

I think I'll tell you about it when the

job is completed.

The picture above

is a hint of where the work is being done.

Enjoy your May,

it will be gone all to soon!