Diana's Desserts - www.dianasdesserts.com
See more recipes in Holidays and Celebrations

Alabama Lane Cake

in Guest Recipe Book

Average Rating: 
(total ratings: 14)
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
Rating: 
Review:
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
Rating: 
 
Reviewer: Stephanie
Rating: 
Review:
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
Rating: 
Review:
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
Rating: 
Review:
this cake is sooooooo amazing.I actually had a heart attack from eatting it!!!! wonderful job!!!Love the web site!!

 
Reviewer: Andrew Reeves
Rating: 
Review:
My Grandmother would make Lane cakes on holidays. You could hardly wait until the next one.

 
Reviewer: Beverly
Rating: 
Review:
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
Rating: 
Review:
Hard to make but delicious.

 
Reviewer: Tom
Rating: 
Review:
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
Rating: 
Review:
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
Rating: 
Review:
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: Fred Kaullen
Rating: 
Review:
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
Rating: 
Review:
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
Rating: 
Review:
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.

 

More Recipes in this Section