Lady Baltimore Cake

My cousin Libbie Hall shared this family recipe for the queen of Southern cake extravaganzas, Lady Baltimore. Her father, Thaddeus Hall, came to North Carolina from Tennessee as a young man to study at Duke University. He stayed on to marry my Aunt Mary Elizabeth, and to serve as a beloved principal in a Durham city school. His sisters shared this Hall family recipe with my aunt, so that she could keep this magnificent cake a part of the Hall family celebrations. Gorgeous and delicious, this cake is reason enough for you to indulge in a pedestal cake stand if you don’t have one already.

Courtesy of "Southern Cakes" by Nancie McDermott. Excerpted by permission of Chronicle Books .

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Southern / Soul Food

Dessert

Ingredients

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour		1/2 cup finely chopped dried figs, apricots, cranberries, or dates (for filling)
2 tsp baking powder		1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts (for filling)
1/2 tsp salt		2 tbsp brandy, sherry, orange juice, or grape juice (for filling)
1 tsp vanilla extract		1 cup sugar (for icing)
4 egg whites		2 egg whites (for icing)
1 cup milk		1/4 cup light corn syrup (for icing)
1.5 cups sugar		1/4 tsp salt (for icing)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or shortening, softened		1/4 tsp cream of tartar (for icing)
1/2 cup golden or dark raisins (for filling)		1 tsp vanilla extract (for icing)

directions

Total:

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1
To make the filling, in a small bowl, combine the raisins, figs, and pecans, and toss to mix well. Add the brandy or juice and toss to mix well. Set aside for 1 hour, or up to 1 day.
2
To make the cake, heat the oven to 350ºF. Grease three 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans, line each one with a circle of waxed paper or parchment, and flour the pans. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir with a fork to mix well. Add the vanilla to the milk and set both mixtures aside.
3
In another medium bowl, beat the egg whites with a mixer at low speed until foamy, and then beat at medium-high speed until they become shiny, thick, and stiff, but not dry. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl now and then. Reduce the mixer’s speed to low, and carefully pour in the milk and the vanilla, beating only until blended.
4
Add the flour mixture to the batter all at once, and beat at low speed only until the flour disappears. Add half the egg whites, folding gently with a rubber spatula or a large spoon until they are mixed well into the batter. Fold in the remaining egg whites gently, and then quickly divide the batter among the 3 cake pans.
5
Bake at 350ºF for 25 minutes, or until the cakes are golden, spring back when touched gently in the center, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pans.
6
Let the cakes cool in the pans for 5 minutes on wire racks or folded kitchen towels. Then turn out the cakes onto wire racks or plates, carefully remove the waxed paper from the bottoms, and then turn the cakes top side up to cool completely.
7
To make the icing, bring about 3 inches of water to a boil in a medium saucepan or in the bottom of a double boiler. Meanwhile, combine the sugar, egg whites, corn syrup, salt and cream of tartar in a large, heat-proof bowl that will fit snugly over the saucepan, or in the top of the double boiler. Beat for 1 minute with a mixer at low speed, until the egg white mixture is foamy and well combined.
8
Place the mixing bowl or the double boiler top over the pan of boiling water, and adjust the heat to maintain a gentle boil. Using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the sugar–egg white mixture at high speed for 7 to 14 minutes, until it swells into a voluptuous cloud of icing that holds firm curly peaks when the beaters are lifted. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla, and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping down the bowl once or twice.
9
To complete the filling, scoop about 1 1/2 cups of the icing into a medium bowl, and stir in the dried fruits and nuts, juice and all. Mix well and set aside.
10
To complete the cake, place one layer on a serving plate, top side down, and scoop half the filling onto the cake. Spread the filling over the cake layer, making it a bit thicker around the edges. Cover with a second layer, top side down, and spread the remaining filling the same way.
11
Place the third cake layer on the second one, top side up, and then ice the entire cake with the remaining icing, spreading it evenly over the sides and then the top. Use a table knife to swirl the icing into beautiful peaks and curls.

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Lady Baltimore Cake

Ingredients

directions