American Cakes – Lane Cake History and Recipe – History of Lane Cake and a Traditional Recipe for this Classic Southern Boozy Layer Cake From Food Historian Gil Marks
“Miss Maudie Atkinson baked a Lane cake so loaded with shinny it made me tight.”
– To Kill a Mockingbird. Author Nelle Harper Lee (1960), a native of Monroeville, Alabama, presented a picture of Southern culture in the mid-20th century, with numerous vestiges of life in the Deep South and Southern foods including Lane cake.
[Shinny = slang for liquor, derived from moonshine]
Lane cake is a four-layer (though some prefer three) white cake with a thick bourbon-laced raisin filling. The egg whites are used for making the vanilla butter cake and the egg yolks for the custard filling.
Emma Rylander Lane (d. April 25, 1904) of Clayton, Alabama in Barbour County introduced the now classic treat bearing her name in her self-published and extremely hard to find 1898 cookbook, A Few Good Things to Eat (the more easy to find 1989 reprint was renamed Some Good Things to Eat). Lane cake appeared shortly before the advent of another classic Southern layer cake — but not the same — Lady Baltimore cake of Charleston, South Carolina (1903) and after the Robert E. Lee cake (lemon curd filled cake) and coconut cakes; the spread of regulated ovens and the rotary beater spurring the proliferate of fluffy white cakes. In her book, Lane entitled the concoction “Prize Cake,” as it had won first prize at a baking contest at a country fair in Columbus, Georgia – about 60 miles from her home in Americus. William Faulkner, a native of Mississippi, in his novel Intruder in the Dust (1948) wrote of a trend in Southern culture: “…this happened two or three terms ago back in the twenties, a Frenchman’s Bend lady naming no names at feud with another lady over something which began (we understood) over the matter of a prize cake at a church supper bazaar….” The concoction eventually and indelibly took on the name of its creator.
For many decades, Lane cake primarily remained the province of a small swatch of the Deep South -– Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. “Lane Cake” was included in Atlanta Woman’s Club Cook Book (1921), attributed to “Mrs. W. C. Lane of Roanoke, Ala”; with chopped walnuts added to the filling and no mention of a frosting. “Lane Cake” was added to the revised edition of the classic Southern Cooking by Henrietta Stanley Dull (New York, 1941); it was not in the original 1928 edition, as it had yet to become widespread — Dull’s 1928 recipe for “Canton’s Prize Cake” was a white cake baked as either a loaf or layers and lacking any filling information. Then recipes appeared in national cookbooks and, of course, its 1960 mention in To Kill a Mockingbird.
The base for Lane cake is an egg white variation of the classic 1-2-3-4-cake, resulting in a sponge cake-like texture, and a raisin filling derived from the 1870s Minnehaha cake. In her rendition, Mrs. Lane instructed: “Bake in four layers, using medium-sized pie tins, with one layer of ungreased brown paper in the bottom of each tin.” The original version contained only raisins (“seeded and finely clipped”) in the custard filling, but subsequent cooks commonly embellished it with pecans and frequently coconut and candied fruit reminiscent of a fruitcake. Lane directed “one wine-glass of good whiskey [denoting bourbon] or brandy” for the filling. The liquor helps to cut the cloyingness of the filling and to moisten and preserve the cake akin to a classic fruitcake. Mrs. Lane insisted that the cake named after her “is much better made a day or two before using.”
Lane’s original prize cake called for “Boiled White Frosting (from a standard recipe), covering the top and sides with the frosting,” without including the frosting recipe. Some subsequent versions omitted any frosting, simply topping three layers with the dark filling. Most modern Lane cakes, in the Southern manner, call for a fluffy white frosting. You can use seven-minute frosting or whipped cream cheese frosting or substitute yellow cake for the white layers.
As in To Kill a Mockingbird, distinctive layer cakes were whipped up by Southerners for significant life events and company. In many Southern homes, Lane cake became, in particular, a traditional Christmas treat as well as a favorite at Thanksgiving, Valentine’s, birthdays, anniversaries, bridal showers, church suppers, and other noteworthy occasions. Lane cake is truly a taste of the Deep South with more than enough sugar and shinny to lift anyone’s spirits.
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Lane Cake
Ingredients
Cake Batter Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups sifted cake flour or 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted /12.25 ounces/350 grams
- 3 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg optional
- 2 cups granulated sugar /14 ounces/400 grams
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (65 to 67°F) - 2 sticks/8 ounces/455 grams
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon orange extract
- 1 cup milk /8 fluid ounces/8.5 ounces/240 grams
- 8 large egg whites 1 cup/8.5 ounces/240 grams
Filling Ingredients
- 8 large egg yolks /9 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon/5.25 ounces/150 grams
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar /8.75 ounces/250 grams
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (65 to 67°F) /1 stick /4 ounces/115 grams
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup bourbon or brandy /4 ounces/115 grams
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely chopped raisins /5 ounces/145 grams
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans /4 ounces/115 grams
- 1 cup grated coconut, preferably fresh /3 ounces/90 grams (optional)
- 1/2 cup finely chopped candied, dried tart, or maraschino cherries or pineapple /4 ounces/115 grams (optional)
Boiled Frosting Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar /7 ounces/200 grams
- 1/3 cup water /2.75 ounces/80 grams
- 2 large egg whites /¼ cup/2.125 ounces/60 grams
- Pinch salt, or ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
NOTES
Instructions
To make the cake:
- Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F (325°F for a convection oven). Grease three 9- by 1½-inch round baking pans or two 9- by 3-inch round baking pans or springform pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper or wax paper, grease again, and dust with flour.To make the batter: Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and, if using, nutmeg.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter on low speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Increase the speed to medium, gradually add the sugar, and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla.Add the flour mixture and milk alternately (4 portions for the flour; 3 portions for the milk) beginning and ending with the flour.In a large bowl, beat the egg whites on low until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until soft leaks form, 5 to 8 minutes. Fold one fourth of the egg whites into the batter, then gently fold in the remaining whites.
- Divide the batter equally between the prepared pans. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly touched, 20 to 25 minutes for 3 pans or about 30 minutes for 2 pans.
- Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to wire racks and let cool completely, at least 1½ hours. The cake can be wrapped and stored at room temperature for up to 1 day.
To make the filling:
- Place the egg yolks in a 2-quart saucepan and lightly beat. Add the sugar and beat until smooth. Add the butter and salt and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and almost translucent, about 10 minutes. Do not boil.
- Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the bourbon and vanilla. Add the raisins, pecans, and, if using, coconut and/or cherries. Let cool, but do not chill before spreading.
To assemble:
- If using 2 larger pans, use a serrated knife to cut each cake in half horizontally. Arrange a cake layer on a serving plate and spread with a third of the filling, about 1 cup. Top with a second cake, spread with half of the remaining filling, and place the third cake layer on top. If making a 3-layer cake, spread the remaining filling on top; for a 4-layer cake, leave the top bare and cover later with frosting. Place in a covered container. Let ripen in a cool place or the refrigerator for at least 2 days and up to 2 weeks, daily spooning any of the filling that seeps out back over top of the cake. For long term storage, place in the freezer for up to 4 months.
To make the frosting:
- In a small saucepan, stir the sugar and water over low heat until dissolved. Stop stirring, increase the heat to medium-high, and boil until it reaches the soft-ball stage and registers 238°F on a candy thermometer.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Add the salt or cream of tartar, increase the speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form, about 1 minute.In a slow, steady stream, beat in the hot syrup. Be careful the syrup does not touch the beaters or it will spin into threads. Add the vanilla and beat until cool.
- For a 3-layer cake, spread the frosting over the sides of the cake; for a 4-layer cake, spread over the sides and top. If not serving on the same day or for leftovers, store in the refrigerator covered with a cake keeper, a tent of foil, or a bowl with a knife or other flat utensil wedged under it. Serve at room temperature.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
I’m here while reading “To kill a mocking bird”!!!!
Never heard of Lane cake, but now while reading. So Googled it and came across this recipe.
Such a fascinating book. Am sure the cake is lovely although I have not eaten it before.
I’m a baker by profession, hoping to make it some day soon.
I have a handwritten version of Lane Cake that my Walker County, Alabama grandmother (b. 1905) wrote out. She copied it from her mother’s recipe, who got it from a recipe in the Birmingham paper.
Because Granny didn’t like white cake, she used a standard yellow cake recipe, which is what I grew up with, and still prefer. Granny’s recipe uses candied fruit (cherries and pineapple — no citron, thank you), coconut, pecans, and good bourbon. (I like Wild Turkey or Jim Beam).
She also frequently omitted the divinity frosting, feeling the cake was quite sweet enough, and besides, even in the winter, getting divinity frosting to “come set” is a shot in the dark in the South, even in December — humidity is murder on that frosting. One waits for a cold, clear night to make divinity candy or frosting. Mama always looked for a night like that to make her Mary Ball fudge recipe.
And Miss Nelle Lee was right: a proper Lane Cake should have enough shinny in it to smell like a distillery when you lift the lid from the cake plate. It goes in the filling and soaks the cake layers.
Yellow cake or white, divinity frosting or not, this cake is a cherished culinary tradition and every family has a slightly different recipe. And that’s OK! That’s the South.
Great recipe, thank you! But can it be that the conversion of the amount of butter is off? 2 sticks equals around 250 grams, not 455. For us Europeans that’s a bit of a snag 🙂
Hi Chris, the conversion system isn’t always super accurate – I do suggest double checking a conversion calculator online. Also please note that only the ingredient list changes when converting, not the instructions themselves.
You’re right, Chris. 1 cup = 2 sticks = 8 oz. = 1/2 lb. = 225g.
455g would be a whole pound or 4 sticks of butter
My Grandmother made lane cake back in the 60s. I think it was mentioned in the movie, “TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD.”
THANK YOU FOR YOUR DELECTABLE POSTS.
You are correct! Glad you’re enjoying the recipes. 🙂
Tori, I hate to ask this because your cake is so gorgeous, but I have searched high & low for the recipe for the Custard filling with raisins only & every single recipe I find when googling has all of the extra goodies that are so very rich. Is there any way I can change your recipe to where it would be like Mrs. Lane’s original recipe? While yours is beautiful & would taste heavenly, it would be a sure-fire diabetic for someone like me as I’ve been recently diagnosed with diabetes 2. The second reason, it that I just like simpler recipes. Hoping you can help me with this matter.
Mrs. Margo Haynes
Hi Margo! I’m very sorry, I don’t have a recipe for the filling with raisins only. If I come across one I’ll check back here!
While my son and I were reading To Kill A Mockingbird for his Freshman English class, we came upon the Lane cake line in the book. Since neither he nor I knew what it meant, he Googled it and we found your recipe. The history about the Lane cake was helpful, and your pictures are gorgeous! Since it was the day before Valentine’s Day, he asked if we could make it. It was a wonderful exercise putting practical application to the story and bringing the cake from the book to life. It was by far the most complicated cake I have ever made. Your directions made it easy for us to follow.
We made the “shinny-free” version so he could share with his class. I wasn’t sure about the raisins and coconut, but the cake tasted so amazing! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
That is so great Caroline! Thank you for sharing. Really happy you enjoyed the cake. I agree it is very complicated to make, but delicious!
I made this cake last year to take to my husband’s family’s Christmas Eve dinner. Since I was a child and first read To Kill A Mockingbird I had always wanted to try a Lane Cake. When I found your recipe I was thrilled! It was definitely a labor of love and quite time consuming, but it was a gorgeous cake, tasted amazing, and raised my baking skills to that of the “real” adults. It is super rich and with the bourbon, can pack quite a punch. There wasn’t a crumb left and my husband has requested that this become my Christmas cake….I’m in complete agreement! Lane Cake 2018 begins production tomorrow. Thanks for bringing a classic to the next generation!
Fabulous Kellie, glad to hear it. 🙂
I always seem to have a problem with the filling getting thick enough to where it doesn’t run off the cake. I have already made the filling, its not thick enough, any ideas.
Hi Donna, that sounds frustrating. I recently broke my candy thermometer and in the process discovered that many thermometers are not well calibrated. (Williams Sonoma’s candy thermometer got the best calibration rations, so that is what I purchased. Since you mention that you encounter this problem frequently, I suspect that your candy thermometer is registering a higher temp that it actually is. Instead of going to 238 try 245 degrees. That is the top end of a soft-boil stage. Or get a new thermometer. Or, try dropping a few drops in ice cold water. If it makes a soft ball, then you good to go.
Thank you Tori, for the “Lane Cake” recipe. As this 74 year old lady sits here at my computer reading the recipe and looking at all of the beautiful pictures of the Lane Cake, I am flooded with precious memories of my sweet, beautiful Mother and me at age 5, in the tiny kitchen, in Birmingham, Alabama on Christmas Eve. I remember the well worn, tattered, cut out, news paper recipe laying on the kitchen table beside Mom’s mixing bowl. She didn’t have an electric mixer so she did everything by hand with a hand cranked mixer and a big spoon. The Lane Cake became a Family Tradition at Christmas for many years there after but as we all grew older, we lost the Lane Cake tradition. I feel that now is a good time to bring it back as I now have 9 grand children and 10 great grand children to introduce to the delicious Lane Cake.
So happy to hear this Donna!
My Mother made this cake every holiday. after I was married I have made it every holiday I am 84 years old this may be my last year to make it. I have heard it called so many names my Mother was from alabama and she called it Lane Cake. Thank you for the history lesson.
My mom Margaret Ann Jamerson from Linden Alabama made this cake every holiday it was truly a treat. However she used grape juice instead of liquor. This was the only cake that she never gave me the recipe to. This cake was her pride and joy.
Thank you so much for bringing history back.
I made this cake but i didnt use raisins as mentioned in the recipe, instead i used dried peaches and substituted the walnuts with pecans. As in the story, the cake is best served 2 days after its made. The cake was deliciously unusual.