Lane Cake questions

[danna]

Although it's mentioned all the time as an old fashioned southern cake, I've never had, nor baked a Lane cake. But I'm going to for T'giving. Recipe below:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

Has anyone made this? I really hate cream cheese icing. Do you think if I simply subbed butter for the cream cheese in this partially-whipped-cream frosting, it would work? What about the bourbon...lots of epi reviewers said the bourbon taste was too strong. I think I'll reduce the amount, and maybe use grand marnier for part of it.

Rather than the apricot flowers on top, i think I'll just decorate w/ pecans, coconut and chocolate curls.

Comments? Thanks.

[chowser]

It sounds really good and I like the changes you want to make. As frosting goes, since this is a southern cake, you could do a boiled frosting instead of the cream cheese. I'm not a big fan of them but it would go well with the cake. Would you use mascarpone instead of cream cheese for a lighter taste? I'd also consider Dorie Greenspan's frosting for her cookies and cream cake in Baking from My Home to Yours. It's a nice light stable white frosting. I'm assuming you have the book but if you don't, I can post the recipe. With pecans and coconut, I'd also use rum instead of bourbon. I'll bet it'll be a show stopper.

I'm picturing something that looks like Italian cream cake--very pretty, with chocolate curls instead of white chocolate:

http://www.dessertsbyhelen.com/images...

[danna]

Well... here's the report on Lane cake. Lord, it is a belly BOMB. The LAST thing you need after a thanksgiving meal. Now, if you had just come home from a long bike ride starving...you might fight your husband for the leftovers, but jeez...all that dried fruit and nuts is just too much.

The filling was unique...I don't think I've ever made a sabayon and then cooked it like a custard. It was a very interesting process and I'd like to try it in other applications. I had a hard time not "tasting" the filling several times a day before I put the cake together.

The white cake is definitely a keeper. It was lovely and delicate, but again, overwhelmed by the richeness of the filing.

The frosting was weird. I subed butter for the cream cheese, maybe that wasn't such a good idea, but the icing was a tiny bit lumpy. I couldn't tell if I didn't beat the butter enough, or if I beat it too much into the whipped cream, and thus began to over-thicken the cream. It tasted nice, but becasue it looked a little odd, I pressed finely chopped pecans up the side of the cake. It was a big cake with a beautiful presentation.

I think I would recommed it highly for a cake-and- tea sort of event.

[amyzan]

My Grandad loved Lane cake, but he always wanted a boiled frosting on it. I'm not sure that's traditional, but this is the way he liked it. If you ever do it again, give that a try. It's better for a party or a group of hearty eaters, since boiled frosting changes texture with time.

You know, I'm not much of one for cream cheese frosting, either, excepting that it works well for carrot cake. I suppose it's become popular for many cakes associated with the south--red velvet, Lane cake, etc.--because it's seen as easier than boiled frosting. I'm not sure that's true, but I suppose not heating up the stovetop has its advantages sometimes.

[alkapal]

dear danna, THAT recipe from epicurious is NOT a "lane cake."
1. never cream cheese!
2. never chocolate!
3. apricots? never heard of them in a lane cake.

got to have bourbon, cause grand marnier is not southern. the people who think it is strong haven't let the cake mellow. you really need to let it sit for at least a couple of weeks (all wrapped up in plastic, foil, then ensconced in a tupperware cake container.)

plus, grand marnier would screw up the flavor balance.

i'll try and find you a real lane cake recipe! i'll try and get my mom's recipe. it is the real deal. this looks similar, http://members.nuvox.net/~zt.proicer/recipes/laneck.htm
and this, too, from the famous edna lewis: http://www.oprah.com/recipe/omagazine...

except mom would split each cake layer in half -- so instead of three big layers, you'd have six thin layers. this makes it so pretty and extra tasty, cause you need to make extra frosting to go in between (but don't overdo how much you put in between the layers.)

[danna]

I certainly should have made 7-minute frosting (I assume that's what everyone means by boiled frosting...actually my Mom calls it White Mountain.) It would have turned down the richness a bit.

And I never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I should have left out the chocolate. The crunch into chopped chocolate was totally unnecessary.

[Candy]

I think that was what i meant too. Fluffy white frosting, not an icing.

[The Old Gal]

I agree, that is not a Lane.
I am sure if you search Southern Living Magazine there would be one. I remember there was one in their Cake Book

[alkapal]

the edna lewis recipe upthread is the real deal.

[weem]

I've made the Lane Cake from "The Gift of Southern Cooking" by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock. It uses the filling as the "frosting". It was a big success at the party I took it to.

[Candy]

OMG! Cream cheese frosting on a Lane Cake??????? Sorry I did not see this earlier. No, Never, Not Ever! A fluffy boiled marshamallowy frosting on a Lane Cake is trad. Cream Cheese on a Lane Cake no, no , no. That is just soooooo wrong.

[alkapal]

" fluffy boiled marshamallowy frosting on a Lane Cake is trad"

-- not in our florida panhandle/southeast alabama/georgia background....

candy, where were your folks from? just curious, cause i've never heard of the boiled white frosting for a lane cake -- for a red velvet cake, absolutely, though!

cream cheese -- only for carrot cakes.