A Lane Cake, also known as a 'Prize Cake' or an 'Alabama Lane Cake' is a bourbon-laden baked cake traditional in the American South. According to food scholar Neil Ravenna, the inventor was Emma Rylander Lane, of Clayton, Alabama, who won first prize with it 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. Her published recipe included raisins, pecans, and coconut, and called for the layers to be baked in pie tins lined with ungreased brown paper rather than in cake pans.
The Lane Cake is sometimes confused with the Lady Baltimore cake, which also is a liquor-laden fruit-filled cake, but of different pedigree.
Many variations of the Lane Cake now exist, with as many as thirteen layers of white sponge cake, separated by a filling that typically includes candied fruit soaked in a generous amount of bourbon or sometimes brandy. It may be frosted on the top, on the sides, or both.
Read more about Lane Cake: Recipe, Lane Cakes in American Culture
Famous quotes containing the words lane and/or cake:
“That way of life against which my generation rebelled had given us grim courage, fortitude, self-discipline, a sense of individual responsibility, and a capacity for relentless hard work.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)
“Many people will say to working mothers, in effect, “I don’t think you can have it all.” The phrase for “have it all” is code for “have your cake and eat it too.” What these people really mean is that achievement in the workplace has always come at a price—usually a significant personal price; conversely, women who stayed home with their children were seen as having sacrificed a great deal of their own ambition for their families.”
—Anne C. Weisberg (20th century)