Although it doesn’t look like it, a Smith Island cake is very easy to make. This is a great tasting, crowd pleaser.
Built with twelve layers of a sweet yellow cake, each layer separated by a dark, fudge-like glaze and a topping of the same glaze.
It is a pretty cake made even more inviting when cut revealing the layers. The Cake becomes spectacular when pred with a high quality vanilla ice cream.
This cake is from Baltimore, Maryland and is the state’s official cake. Every recipe I found was exactly the same and reproduced below.
Each layer is baked separately for 8 minutes. If you have three cake pans, this is quick work. While the layers are baking, the build starts with frosting each layer with a few tablespoons of the glaze and then adding another layer. Once all layers are frosted and stacked, the rest of the glaze is spooned over the cake creating a smooth, shiny exterior.
Recipe
Ingredients for Layer Cake
☐ 2 cups sugar
☐ 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks ( 1 cup)
☐ 5 eggs
☐ 3 cups flour
☐ ¼ teaspoon salt
☐ 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
☐ 1 cup evaporated milk
☐ 2 teaspoons vanilla
☐ ½ cup water
Step 1: Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix into egg mixture one cup at a time. With mixer running, slowly pour in the evaporated milk, then the vanilla and water. Mix just until uniform.
Step 2: Put three serving spoonfuls of batter in each of ten 9-inch lightly greased pans, using the back of the spoon to spread evenly. Bake three layers at a time on the middle rack of the oven at 350° for 8 minutes. A layer is done when you hold it near your ear and you don’t hear it sizzle.
Step 3: Start making the icing when the first layers go in the oven. Put the cake together as the layers are finished. Let layers cool a couple of minutes in the pans. Run a spatula around the edge of the pan and ease the layer out of the pan. (Don’t worry if it tears; no one will notice when the cake is finished.) Use two or three serving spoonfuls of icing between each layer. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the rest of the icing. Push icing that runs onto the plate back onto the cake.
Ingredients for Chocolate Icing
☐ 2 cups sugar
☐ 1 cup evaporated milk
☐ 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
☐ 1 stick unsalted butter
☐ ½ to 1 teaspoon vanilla
Step 1: Put sugar and evaporated milk in a medium pan. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until warm.
Step 2: Add chocolate and cook to melt.
Step 3: Add butter and melt.
Step 4: Cook over medium heat at a slow boil for 10 to 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add vanilla. Icing will be thin but thickens as it cools.
Source: www.visitmaryland.org/article/Smith-Island-Layer-Cake-Recipe
