Be Delicious. Smith Island Cake from the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.
On our most recent adventure to the absolutely delightful Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, we were introduced to a delicious and hearty treat, Smith Island Cake. After a sumptuous dinner at our home away from home, the Inn at Perry Cabin, where "Wedding Crashers" was filmed, our waiter suggested the Smith Island Cake for dessert. A layered affair of yellow cake and chocolate icing, the layers are not simply for decadence he explained. The women of nearby and totally isolated Smith Island, make the cake for their men to take to sea for long stretches of time-- the icing and the layers help keep the cake moist for longer. The cake is as good as it sounds. And Smith Island would make for a wild place to visit for for an afternoon-- apparently it's like going back in time as the inhabitants of the island have remained almost entirely cut off from the rest of the world- some still speak with Elizabethan accents!
Smith Island Cake
SERVES 10–12
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE:24 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pans3 1/2 cups flour, plus more for pans4 tsp. baking powder1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt2 1/4 cups sugar2 cups milk1 tbsp. vanilla extract6 eggs
FOR THE ICING:2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped2 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped2 cups sugar1 cup evaporated milk6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
1. Make the cake: Heat oven to 350°. Butter and flour four 9″ cake pans; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; set dry ingredients aside. Whisk together butter, sugar, milk, vanilla, and eggs in another bowl. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients, and using a whisk, stir together until just combined; let batter sit for 15 minutes. Stir batter again until smooth, and then divide half the batter among prepared pans; tilt cake pans around to let batter cover entire bottom. Bake cakes, rotating pans halfway through cooking, until barely browned, about 15 minutes. Let cakes cool for 20 minutes in pans, and then invert onto wire racks to cool completely. Clean and dry pans, and grease and flour again; divide remaining batter among pans, and repeat baking process.
2. Make the icing and assemble the cake: Bring both chocolates, sugar, milk, and butter to a boil in a 6-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat; cook, stirring often, until sugar dissolves, chocolate melts, and mixture is smooth and shiny, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla; let icing sit until thick enough to spread, about 30 minutes. Place one cake on a cake stand and, using an offset spatula, spread with 1/4 cup icing; repeat with remaining cakes and 1 1/2 cups icing, leaving top cake un-iced. Chill cake to set icing between cakes, about 30 minutes. Rewarm remaining icing, if necessary, and spread over top and sides of the cake; let icing cool before serving.
recipe from Saveur.com
If you don't feel like baking, you can order one online from the Original Smith Island Cake Company. Or head to the Inn at Perry Cabin....
We will be regaling you with details and loads of pictures from our charmed martitime getaway in the next few days-- wine tastings on boats, steak dinners in cozy restaurants, bike rides through picture perfect villages, crab everything, relaxing massages, divine hotel suites that opened onto the Bay... can you tell we had a hard time leaving??