All Cakes Considered - Melissa Gray [75]
—from Owen Wister’s 1906 novel Lady Baltimore
Considering the frightfully, yet delightfully, figgity-stickity state of a Lady Baltimore cake, I seriously expect Owen Wister’s narrator to have actually said aloud, with his mouth full, “Boof, duere moof, wiff iff dulufoff!”
And is it me, or is there something implicitly naughty about that passage? Lady Baltimore is a romance novel set in Charleston, South Carolina. The central character was based on a real-life Charleston belle, Alicia Rhett Mayberry.1 In the novel, Lady Baltimore named her cake after herself.2 Naturally, the reading public wanted the recipe, which was actually a figment of Wister’s mind. Or a Fig Newton of Wister’s mind, because actually, this recipe does kind of taste like a Fig Newton crossed with a Twinkie.
ANYWAY, Wister’s cake may have been based on another cake, a variation of the Queen Cake popular at that time. Supposedly, the cake that came to be known as Lady Baltimore Cake was developed at the end of the nineteenth century at a Charleston tea room named the Lady Baltimore.3 Supposedly they baked and shipped one of these cakes to Master Wister every Christmas. Apparently the first mention of an actual recipe appeared in a number of newspapers in 1906, the year Lady Baltimore was published.
There are a number of different Lady Baltimore recipes out there, but they’re all basically the same: a white cake with layers of chopped-up raisins, figs, and nuts mixed with a fluffy, marshmallow-like frosting.
My recipe comes from that 1969 pamphlet published by the Culinary Arts Institute. There’s no romance in this pamphlet, just 200 cakes, including one for Lord Baltimore. Given that m’Lady is made with egg whites, it seems m’Lord was developed for the leftover egg yolks. Also, in the manly version, the cake is yellow and buttery, and the filling includes macaroon crumbs, pecans, orange extract, blanched almonds, and candied cherries (Lord Baltimore must have been hypoglycemic!). Both cakes are frosted with divinity frosting, which requires a candy thermometer and NO distractions!
1. Quick! Where were Rhett Butler’s relatives from in Gone with the Wind’? Yes! Charleston! Literary coincidence? I think not.
2. I would have named my cake Henrietta Billingsworth, but then again I’m not the subject of an innuendo-filled romance novel. Yet.
3. Thank God it wasn’t named the Queen’s Head and Artichoke—that would have been a HORRIBLE name for a cake. Or a novel. Maybe not for a memoir.
Lady Baltimore
* * *
YOU’LL NEED
Two 8-inch or two 9-inch round cake pans
A whisk attachment and extra bowl for mixer
A medium bowl
2 rubber spatulas
A food processor
FOR THE CAKE
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3½ cups sifted cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup egg whites (8 to 10 large egg whites)
FOR THE LADY’S FILLING
2 cups raisins
2 cups figs
3 cups nuts (I recommend a mix of pecans and almonds)
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Divinity Frosting (page 190)
TO MAKE THE LADY’S CAKE
1. Center a rack and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare the pans.
2. With the mixer on medium speed, cream the butter. Gradually add the sugar, beating until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, dry whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together.
4. Add 1 cup of the flour mixture and ⅓ cup of milk alternately, beating well after each addition. Repeat until all of the flour mixture and milk are blended in.
5. Add the vanilla extract and beat well. The batter will be thicker than you’re used to. If it’s way too thick, add 1 extra tablespoon of milk and beat. Set aside.
6. Remove the paddle or the beaters, attach the whisk, and set a clean, dry mixing bowl in place. Whip the egg whites on high speed until you reach the stiff