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Alabama Lane Cake
in Diana's Recipe Book
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Average Rating:
(total ratings: 21) [Read reviews] [Post a review] |
| Servings: 8-10 |
| Comments: Particularly popular throughout the South, this white or yellow cake is layered with a mixture of coconut, nuts and dried fruits and often covered with a fluffy white frosting (this version does not use the cooked frosting, but uses the cake filling for the top and sides). Lane cake is said to have originated in Clayton, Alabama, when its creator, Emma Rylander Lane, won a prize for it in the state fair. |
Ingredients:  For the Cake: 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened at room temperature 2 cups granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 1/4 cups cake flour 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup milk 8 egg whites For the Filling and Topping: 8 egg yolks 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar Grated rind of 1 orange 1/3 cup bourbon (apple, grape or cherry juice may be substituted for the bourbon) 1/2 teaspoon mace 1 1/4 cups pecans, chopped 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup shredded coconut 1 cup raisins 1 cup glace cherries, quartered |
| Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees f (190 C). Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans. 2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in vanilla. 3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt twice. Stir flour mixture into batter alternately with milk. 4. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Stir 1/4 of whites into batter. Fold in remaining whites until just mixed. 5. Spoon batter into the 3 prepared cake pans and bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in pans for 10 minutes; turn onto cake racks. 6. To prepare filling, mix together yolks, sugar and orange rind in a heavy pan or in top of a double boiler. 7. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves and mixture thickens enough to coat back of spoon. Do not allow to boil or eggs will scramble. 8. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Let filling cool. Fill the cake layers and spread on top and sides of cake. NOTE: Lane cake improves in flavor as it ages and mellows. Covered and uncut, this cake can be made 1 week before serving. It's not necessary to refrigerate. Makes 8-10 servings. |
| Date: April 25, 2003 |
Reviews
Reviewer: Michael
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I have never had the cake but am eager to try the recipe. I happen to live in Emma Rylander Lane's house in Americus, Georgia. It was built in the spring of 1890. The house is a Craftsman style bungalow on a half acre of land and was the first building erected in this section of town.
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I have never had the cake but am eager to try the recipe. I happen to live in Emma Rylander Lane's house in Americus, Georgia. It was built in the spring of 1890. The house is a Craftsman style bungalow on a half acre of land and was the first building erected in this section of town.
Reviewer: Jennifer Clarke
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Reviewer: Stephanie
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My mom made this cake when I was growing up. Now I make it every Christmas for my friends and family, and they love it.
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My mom made this cake when I was growing up. Now I make it every Christmas for my friends and family, and they love it.
Reviewer: Eleanor Lamb Cook
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I grew up in Augusta, Georgia and my mother would make this cake every Christmas, as it was my father's favorite. I remember helping to chop the pecans and grate the fresh coconut. This recipe comes pretty close to my mother's. She didn't use cherries, but it could be we couldn't afford them or maybe my father didn't like them. Being members of the Baptist church, having a cake which included whiskey was considered a bit "naughty" for us, but it sure tasted good.
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I grew up in Augusta, Georgia and my mother would make this cake every Christmas, as it was my father's favorite. I remember helping to chop the pecans and grate the fresh coconut. This recipe comes pretty close to my mother's. She didn't use cherries, but it could be we couldn't afford them or maybe my father didn't like them. Being members of the Baptist church, having a cake which included whiskey was considered a bit "naughty" for us, but it sure tasted good.
Reviewer: sammy slamma jamma
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this cake is sooooooo amazing.I actually had a heart attack from eatting it!!!! wonderful job!!!Love the web site!!
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this cake is sooooooo amazing.I actually had a heart attack from eatting it!!!! wonderful job!!!Love the web site!!
Reviewer: Andrew Reeves
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My Grandmother would make Lane cakes on holidays. You could hardly wait until the next one.
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My Grandmother would make Lane cakes on holidays. You could hardly wait until the next one.
Reviewer: Beverly
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My family would always cook this cake at Christmas and the grandkids would just lurk around the kitchen just waiting! A wonderful treat and a wonderful Alabama memory.
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My family would always cook this cake at Christmas and the grandkids would just lurk around the kitchen just waiting! A wonderful treat and a wonderful Alabama memory.
Reviewer: L
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Hard to make but delicious.
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Hard to make but delicious.
Reviewer: Tom
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My late grandmother made this every Christmas, and my wife has taken up the cause. What a wonderful recipe! Great recipe site as well!
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My late grandmother made this every Christmas, and my wife has taken up the cause. What a wonderful recipe! Great recipe site as well!
Reviewer: Danessa
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I just want to that just by seeing it it really looks really good. I read the list of what it has and I was like wow. I just can taste that. I see there is the sweetnest and also the fruit on it that's what makes it more healthier I believe
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I just want to that just by seeing it it really looks really good. I read the list of what it has and I was like wow. I just can taste that. I see there is the sweetnest and also the fruit on it that's what makes it more healthier I believe
Reviewer: Angie
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This cake IS Christmas to me. My Grandmother would make it Thanksgiving weekend, wrap it up and not let us look at it until Chrismas Eve. I cannot wait to eat it again! Glad I found your site.
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This cake IS Christmas to me. My Grandmother would make it Thanksgiving weekend, wrap it up and not let us look at it until Chrismas Eve. I cannot wait to eat it again! Glad I found your site.
Reviewer: Betty Ray
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Excellent!
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Excellent!
Reviewer: Fred Kaullen
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I made the cake to see just what Harper Lee was talking about in To Kill a Mockingbird. "...a Lane cake so loaded with shinny it made me tight...". I used 1/2 cup of Jack Daniels though.
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I made the cake to see just what Harper Lee was talking about in To Kill a Mockingbird. "...a Lane cake so loaded with shinny it made me tight...". I used 1/2 cup of Jack Daniels though.
Reviewer: Middy
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This cake was difficult for a first timer but it sure was good. I substituted the bourbon for juice though. The overall effect is no different.
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This cake was difficult for a first timer but it sure was good. I substituted the bourbon for juice though. The overall effect is no different.
Reviewer: Virginia Britt Wroble
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I am from Alabama and the Lane Cake is soooo delicious. My mother, Mamie Lee Phillips used to bake them for our family and friends every Christmas. It was nothing for her to make at least a dozen cakes every holiday. She is gone now but these good memories live on.
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I am from Alabama and the Lane Cake is soooo delicious. My mother, Mamie Lee Phillips used to bake them for our family and friends every Christmas. It was nothing for her to make at least a dozen cakes every holiday. She is gone now but these good memories live on.
Reviewer: Jeannie
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I live in South Carolina and I can remember my great grandmother making a Lane Cake every Thanksgiving and Christmas. My father also made a Lane Cake many times for the holidays! My oldest niece made her first Lane Cake last week for Thanksgiving!
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I live in South Carolina and I can remember my great grandmother making a Lane Cake every Thanksgiving and Christmas. My father also made a Lane Cake many times for the holidays! My oldest niece made her first Lane Cake last week for Thanksgiving!
Reviewer: Maxine Hendley
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My Mother use to make this cake every Christmas but this year 2008 I am going to make it for my quest of 30 people . Please pray that it comes out as good as my Mom's. I am from Headland Alabama.
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My Mother use to make this cake every Christmas but this year 2008 I am going to make it for my quest of 30 people . Please pray that it comes out as good as my Mom's. I am from Headland Alabama.
Reviewer: Jane Guerin
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I am 58 years old, originally from Montgomery, Al and have never celebrated Christmas without a Lane Cake. I'm sure my grandmother made one every Christmas when my mother was growing up. It's the best cake in the world. However, your recipe is not like the recipe that I have, which is supposed to be the original. No orange rind, more bourbon (certainly no juice), more egg yolks in the filling, more coconut, more raisins, more pecans, no cherries, no mace, and lTbs. of homemade baking powder. Your cake must be good according to the reviewers, but I could never veer from the recipe I've been handed down! Aren't Southern food traditions a treasure?!!!!
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I am 58 years old, originally from Montgomery, Al and have never celebrated Christmas without a Lane Cake. I'm sure my grandmother made one every Christmas when my mother was growing up. It's the best cake in the world. However, your recipe is not like the recipe that I have, which is supposed to be the original. No orange rind, more bourbon (certainly no juice), more egg yolks in the filling, more coconut, more raisins, more pecans, no cherries, no mace, and lTbs. of homemade baking powder. Your cake must be good according to the reviewers, but I could never veer from the recipe I've been handed down! Aren't Southern food traditions a treasure?!!!!
Reviewer: Linda
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My mama, Bessie Lee Lowery, used to bake this cake each year after Thanksgiving. She would wrap it with wax paper and a towel, then put it in her big canner and sit it on the back steps until Christmas Eve. It was one of the many wonderful smells in our home for the season. It is still a treasured cake in our family.
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My mama, Bessie Lee Lowery, used to bake this cake each year after Thanksgiving. She would wrap it with wax paper and a towel, then put it in her big canner and sit it on the back steps until Christmas Eve. It was one of the many wonderful smells in our home for the season. It is still a treasured cake in our family.
Reviewer: Kelsey
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For my english class we are reading To Kill A Mockingbird, and me and my partner were incharge of making a food item from the book. well we found this one on the internet and tried it and our whole class liked it alot! Although we didnt add all the ingrediants to the topping but it still was really good!
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For my english class we are reading To Kill A Mockingbird, and me and my partner were incharge of making a food item from the book. well we found this one on the internet and tried it and our whole class liked it alot! Although we didnt add all the ingrediants to the topping but it still was really good!
Reviewer: Chris
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I had to make this cake for a project. We read "To kill a mocking bird" and I had to make The lane cake that scout ate. It turned out amazing, Thank you so much.
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I had to make this cake for a project. We read "To kill a mocking bird" and I had to make The lane cake that scout ate. It turned out amazing, Thank you so much.