This Majestic Southern Cake Was One among Jimmy Carter’s Favourite Desserts

The late president Jimmy Carter, who was famously pleased with his Southern roots, had a passion for Alabama Lane cake—a powerful white cake layered with a bourbon-spiked custard speckled with dried fruit and nuts. Writing for The Bitter Southerner in 2024, journalist and cookbook writer Anne Byrn notes that the cake was a vital a part of Carter’s Christmas celebration annually from his childhood proper by means of to his days within the White Home.

In his 2001 guide Christmas in Plains, Carter recollects how his father baked not one, however a number of Lane truffles throughout the holidays when he was rising up: “Since this cake recipe required a robust dose of bourbon, it was only for the grownup kin, docs, nurses, and different pals who could be invited to our home for eggnog.” When he turned president in 1977, the dessert accompanied him to the White Home. It was his mother-in-law Francesca “Allie” Smith who taught the White Home pastry cooks the way to make the beloved Southern cake, in response to Byrn.

Carter stands out as the most well-known fan of the cake, however he’s not the one one: In 2016, the cake was chosen because the state dessert of Alabama. Like Carter and the state of Alabama, I am keen on Lane cake. However in New York, the place I dwell, the dessert is extraordinarily tough (if not inconceivable) to seek out. Fortunately for me, our Birmingham, Alabama-based take a look at kitchen colleague Nicole Hopper not too long ago shared her recipe for the confection, which implies I could make it each time I need. Within the South, the cake is fashionable for holidays, together with Christmas and Easter, however this stunning layered cake could be welcome at any celebration.

After baking quite a few truffles, Nicole landed on a bakery-worthy model that happy our different Alabamian colleagues, a lot of whom grew up consuming the cake and had heat, nostalgic recollections of the dessert. Nicole’s model consists of three layers of tender white cake and a bourbon-laced custard full of coconut, pecans, and dried fruit, all encased in a silky Swiss meringue buttercream. Right here’s the way to make a Lane cake like a real Alabamian.

The right way to Make the Very Finest Alabama Lane Cake

Put together the cake batter utilizing the reverse creaming technique. Many recipes have you ever start by creaming butter and sugar collectively (which helps aerate a cake), then incorporate the eggs one after the other earlier than including the dry components. Nicole’s recipe takes a totally totally different method with a technique known as reverse creaming. Popularized by Rose Levy Beranbaum in her 1988 cookbook The Cake Bible, reverse creaming includes paddling the dry components—flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt—with room temperature butter, then including the moist components.

In The Cake Bible, Beranbaum notes that this technique is “quicker, simpler, and just about eliminates any risk of toughening the cake by overbeating,” which might develop an excessive amount of gluten, leading to an unpleasantly chewy cake. Paddling the dry components with butter helps evenly coat the flour particles in fats; this makes it harder for the gluten proteins glutenin and gliadin to bond with each other—limiting these bonds in flip ends in a young cake.

Gently fold in whipped egg whites. Lane cake is made with a white cake, which incorporates no egg yolks. (Don’t be concerned—you may use all these yolks within the custard.) With the standard creaming technique, the egg whites are included into the cake batter after the butter and sugar are overwhelmed, and earlier than the dry components are added. In her exams, Nicole discovered {that a} white cake made this fashion produced an unpleasantly chewy cake. She discovered a wiser method to incorporate the egg whites with out giving the cake a rubbery texture: She whips the egg whites till they’re stiff, then gently folds them into the batter for a light-weight, fluffy cake that’s nonetheless sturdy sufficient for the custard filling. 

Cook dinner the custard filling to 170°F (77°C)—and whisk consistently. To make the cake’s signature boozy filling, Nicole cooks egg yolks, sugar, and butter till the combination turns into thick and easy. Egg proteins start to coagulate at round 165°F (75°C), and cooking the yolk combination till 170°F (77°C) ensures that it units right into a velvety custard that’s simply thick sufficient to cradle the pecans, coconut, raisins, and cherries. Simply remember to whisk consistently, in any other case you’ll find yourself with candy scrambled eggs.

Frost the cake with a Swiss meringue buttercream. Historically, Lane cake is frosted with a boiled white icing, which is often known as a seven minute frosting: You whisk a mix of egg whites and sugar in a bowl set over a sizzling water bathtub till it’s thick and shiny. It’s primarily a Swiss meringue. Although the frosting alone is scrumptious, it makes for an uncomfortably saccharine dessert when paired with already candy Lane cake. To chop by means of among the sweetness of the cake, Nicole determined to take the Swiss meringue one step additional by including butter and turning it right into a buttercream. Wealthy, creamy, and silky easy, the buttercream enhances the sharp, spiced notes of the bourbon and the nuttiness of the pecans and coconut. 

It’s a dessert match for a special day—however anybody who’s ever had the pleasure of having fun with Lane cake is aware of that having a slice is an event in itself.

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