Which cake deserves the title "Maryland Cake"?

Jan. 9, 2013 - PRLog -- January 9, 2013

Marylanders claim Lady Baltimore cake, Smith Island cake, and red velvet cake as their own. But the origins and history of these cakes are murky. Did these popular cakes originate in Maryland or in another part of the United States?

 Chesapeake TASTE magazine’s January issue, tackles the question of which cakes originated in the Chesapeake and mid-Atlantic region. Writer Doug Miller interviews chefs and food historians to uncover the truth about which cakes our state should claim as its own.

"Much of what we hear and read about food are old wives' tales, or just wrong," says food historian Gil Marks, a James Beard Foundation Award-winning author who recently wrapped up a history of American cakes, which should be hitting the shelves soon.

It is commonly assumed that red velvet cake has its origins in the south, but Marks has traced the cake to a Hillsboro, Ohio. A 1959 newspaper article offers a recipe for a dyed-red cake with cream cheese frosting.  Referred to as a "Waldorf red cake,” he explains that the reference to New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, an institution that figures in multiple urban food legends, was commonly understood in those days to indicate an intensely chocolate cake.

Lady Baltimore cake does have ties to the south, but is native to Charleston, South Carolina. However, “Lady Cake”, was created by a Baltimore baker who may have generated the name Lady Baltimore that was attached to the Charleston confection.

Smith Island Cake, a basic yellow cake with 10 or more thin layers originated in New Orleans, according to Marks. An adaptation of an Austro-Hungarian Dobos torte, in the 1930’s it became known as the Doberge torte. As to early cookbook references to Smith Island Cake prior to 1999, there are none.

So what is a truly authentic Maryland cake?  A cake Maryland can perhaps call its on is the “rainbow cake” baked by early 20th century Baltimore bakeries, composed of multi-colored layers of cake with chocolate icing.

Read the entire article, Maryland cakes: Lady Baltimore, Smith Island, and Red Velvet online at: http://chesapeaketaste.com/index.php/food-spirits/food/38....  Plus learn how to make your very own Lady Baltimore Cake , recipe courtesy of Chef Jan Bandula, an instructor at Stratford University’s Baltimore campus,  available on the ChesapeakeTaste website

Chesapeake TASTE is published 10 times a year by Jefferson Communications, also publishers of Chesapeake Family and The Big Books of Health, Education, and Everything. Chesapeake Taste, launched in April 2012 celebrates the culture and cuisine of the Chesapeake Bay. Their mission is to print the real life stories of culture, community and flavor that make the Bay an inviting place to live and play.  Visit their website at www.ChesapeakeTASTE.com.

CONTACT INFORMATION: For more information, contact Nadja Maril, editor, at Nadja@jecoannapolis.com.