Interesting Southern Heirloom Cake Recipes II: Lane Cake

Thick slice of Lane Cake (photo: Eunice)

A Lane Cake, also known as a 'Prize Cake' or an 'Alabama Lane Cake' is a traditional cake from the Southern United States. Emma Rylander Lane from Clayton, Alabama is credited as the creator of this cake.  She won first prize with this cake at the county fair in Columbus, Georgia. She called it Prize Cake when she self-published a cookbook, Some Good Things To Eat, in 1898.

The cake has been forever enshrined in literature in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird - Miss Maudie Atkinson gives a Lane Cake as a welcome gift to Aunt Alexandra. The narrator in the story is the young daughter, Scout, of Atticus Finch. Scout reports, "Miss Maudie baked a Lane cake so loaded with shinny it made me tight." ("Shinny" is slang for liquor.) Also in the book, Miss Maudie bakes a Lane Cake for Mr. Avery, who was severely injured in an attempt to put out a fire in her home.

Emma Rylander Lane’s Prize Cake 

- CAKE – 
3 ¼ cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 – 16 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
8 egg whites
1 cup milk

*On wax paper sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add egg whites, in four additions, beating thoroughly after each addition.

Fold in flour mixture alternately with milk; begin and end with dry ingredients. Batter should be smooth but look slightly granular.

Turn into 4 ungreased 9-inch round layer-cake pans lined on the bottom with wax paper.

Bake in a 375-degree oven until edges shrink slightly from sides of pans and tops spring back when gently pressed with finger, or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean — about 20 minutes. Place pans on wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes.

Turn out on wire racks; remove wax paper; turn right side up; cool completely.

Put layers together (on a cake plate) with Lane Cake Filling, stacking carefully; do not spread filling over top. Cover top and sides with swirls of Boiled White Frosting.
Cover with a tent of foil or a cake cover; or cover tightly in a large deep bowl in tin box. Store in a cool place; if refrigerated, allow to stand at room temperature for half a day before serving because cake texture is best when cake is not served chilled

- FILLING -
8 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup seedless raisins, finely chopped
1 – 3 cup bourbon or brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla

*In a 2-quart saucepan, beat the egg yolks well; beat in sugar and butter. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until quite thick. Remove from heat; stir in raisins, bourbon and vanilla. Cool slightly; use as directed.

- BOILED WHITE FROSTING -
(from a standard recipe)

SOURCE: This recipe is by way of Emma Rylander Law, Mrs. Emma Rylander Lane’s granddaughter, and was published in an article by Cecily Brownstone, food editor for the Associated Press on Dec. 19, 1967. 

Another version:

Lane Cake

1 cup butter

1 cup milk

2 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 cups flour (sifted 3 times)

1 teaspoon vanilla

7 egg whites

All ingredients shold be room temperature.  Cream butter and add sugar gradually and cream until fluffy.  Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk.  Add vanilla and fold in beaten egg whites.  Pour in two 9-inch pans and bake at 350-degrees F.

Filling:

7 egg yolks

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup sugar

1 cup coconut

1/2 cup butter

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup wine

Cook egg yolks, sugar, and butter until thick.  Let mixture cool and add nuts, cocnut, raisins and wine.

SOURCE: Mildred Mason, Favorite Recipes of Alabama Vocational Home Economics Teachers, Second Edition 

Boiled White Frosting

1 ½ cup sugar

½ cup water

2 egg whites

Cook sugar, water and egg whites together, beating while cooking over low heat, until icing will hold peak.  Beat until thick enough to spread.  (This is a good icing for fresh coconut cakes, also.) 

SOURCE: Mrs. J.M. Cruse, from Watt’s Cooking by the Jackson Electric Membership Corporation (Georgia), 1977

Baptists in Alabama have traditionally looked down on the alcoholic Lane cake - it was generally the Methodists and Presbyterians who tended to make the alcoholic cake.  They were generally thought to have more money than us Baptists and we considered them also a bit worldlier.  However, the Baptists had their own non-alcoholic version, suitable for church socials.  (Although, some Baptists would sneak to the liquor store across the state line and risk their eternal souls for a 'real' bite of Lane cake.) 

An alternative filling recipe: 

Lane Cake Filling (1977)

½ lb butter

2 cups chopped pecans

2 cups sugar

2 cups raisins

6 egg yolks well beaten

2 cups coconut (fresh preferably)

½ cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

Mix butter, sugar, egg yolks, and milk.  Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until it looks syrupy and glossy.  Then add nuts, raisins, coconut, and vanilla.  Spread between layers and on top.  Ice sides of cake with white frosting. 

SOURCE: Mrs. J.M. Cruse, from Watt’s Cooking by the Jackson Electric Membership Corporation (Georgia), 1977



FYI: A Lane Cake should never be confused with a Lord or Lady Baltimore Cake.