Lady Baltimore Cake

Lady Baltimore is a special occasion cake popular in the American South. This cake uses 10 eggs, but just the whites. This is a white cake with snowy white 7 minute frosting, so using yolks would turn it yellow. You can salt cure the egg yolks, or cook them for yourself or your critters. As always, we’ve included our gluten and dairy free versions.

Ingredients

1 stick of butter or dairy free butter, room temperature

2 cups of sugar

3 cups of cake flour or 3 cups of gluten free flour + 1/3 cup cornstarch or arrowroot powder

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups milk or plant milk – we used oat milk

6 egg whites

Frosting and Filling Ingredients

4 egg whites

1 ½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 teaspoons vanilla 

⅔ cup of water

1 cup dried chopped medjool dates

¾ cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons sherry, rum, brandy, cognac, or whisky

To make the cake – preheat oven to 350F. Grease 2 high-sided 8 inch cake pans or 3 standard 9 inch pans.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch (for gluten free,) baking powder, and salt. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk and vanilla extract to the butter mixture and mix until completely combined. Set aside.

Beat the egg whites until  stiff peaks form. Start with 1/3 of the egg whites and fold them into the batter. Fold in the remainder. Batter is stiff, so use some muscle. Pour batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes in 9 inch pans, 40 minutes in high-sided 8 inch pans. Set aside to cool.

To make filling and frosting – 

Set up a double boiler on the stove – a smaller pan over a larger pan of simmering water. Add the egg whites, sugar, salt, cream of tartar, and ⅔ cup of water in the top pan. Place top pan over simmering water and beat with hand held mixer until soft peaks form. This should be 7 or 8 minutes. Remove from heat, pour into a large mixing bowl, add the vanilla, and continue beating until the frosting becomes stiff.

Transfer half of the frosting to another bowl. Add the nuts, fruit, and alcohol of choice to the frosting and mix together. When the cake is completely cooled, use this between the cake layers to fill the cake. Use the remainder of the plain frosting to cover the top and sides. Garnish with rose petals or sugared flowers.