In 'Mockingbird' food is comfort, Lane cake a bounty of riches. A history and recipe (2024)

In the South, the answer to most afflictions, the centerpiece of every celebration, is food.

Aunt broke a hip? Whip up a pot of chicken and dumplings.

Neighbor passed away? Any casserole made with cream-of-something soup.

Decoration Day at the family cemetery? Velveeta mac ’n cheese topped with bread crumbs.

Thanksgiving dinner? Pecan pie, Grandma’s recipe, and maybe some

fruit suspended in gelatin.

The food does not need to be fancy so much as familiar. As Alabama author Rick Bragg said when speaking in Athens in September: The familiarity of food can bring comfort during times of stress, such as when he was a journalist reporting from the middle of a war zone.

"I have stood with a satellite phone on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, pointing it at a satellite, so I could find out, other than salt and pepper, what you put on pinto beans," Bragg said. Read more of that speech here.

Food is comfort. Food is love. While it doesn't have to be elaborate, the time and effort required is often seen as directly proportional to the amount of love a dish expresses. Using that measure, Lane cake is a bounty of riches for its recipient. Because of its reputation as a difficult dessert to make, with its numerous steps and layers, Lane cake recipients know they rank high in the esteem of the baker.

The cake figures prominently in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” an appropriate spotlight for the booze-soaked confection that was created by Emma Rylander Lane of Alabama in the late 1890s.

This brief history and recipe, believed to be the original, are a supplement to the Red Clay Readers look at TKAM.

I requested those chapters specifically because Lane cake is first mentioned in chapter 8 and had I researched the history of the cake for my 2010 book "Forgotten Tales of Alabama." Also, I have fond memories of my Grandmother Caldwell making beautiful Lane cakes each Christmas, although I always refused to eat them because she added coconut to hers.

Sweets spoiler alert: It won't be until Chapter 13 that Scout utters arguably the most famous quote about Lane cake of all time: "Miss Maudie Atkinson baked a Lane cake so loaded with shinny it made me tight." (As any Southerner knows, "shinny" is the booze and "tight" is what you get after drinking a bit much.)

But I wanted to discuss when Miss Maudie first broaches the subject of Lane cake, which illustrates the character of a strong Southern woman, a true steel magnolia. Hours after Maudie’s house burned to the ground, as she surveys the ruins of her beloved garden, she tells Scout and Jem she is planning to bake something for Mr. Avery, who was injured while trying to help extinguish the fire.

“Mr. Avery will be in bed for a week — he’s right stove up. He’s too old to do things like that and I told him so. Soon as I can get my hands clean and when Stephanie Crawford’s not looking, I’ll make him a Lane cake. That Stephanie’s been after my recipe for 30 years, and if she thinks I’ll give it to her just because I’m staying with her she’s got another think coming.”

Making Lane Cake

Lane Cake was created by Emma Rylander Lane of Clayton, Ala. She published the recipe in her 1898 cookbook, "A Few Good Things to Eat." (The book was later reprinted as "Some Good Things to Eat," but after finding a 1968 Associated Press column in which the writer said she was looking at the book cover as she wrote, I'll use the title she quoted. Read that column here.)

Lane initially called the confection Prize Cake after it won first prize at a fair in Columbus, Ga., but a friend encouraged her to lend her name to it. It is made from four layers of white sponge cake that are slathered in between with a mix of egg yolks, butter, sugar, raisins and bourbon. The frosting was the old-fashioned boiled variety of whipped egg whites, which most people now simplify with modern conveniences.

I've found few other details about Lane's life, other than that she died in April 1904 while in Guadalahara, Mexico. She is buried in Americus, Ga., according to FindaGrave.com.

Here’s the recipe. Let me know if you bake one.

Lane Cake recipe

(Associated Press, 1968)

In her day, Lane made the cake in medium pie tins lined with brown paper rather than in cake pans. The initial recipe called for "one wine-glass of good whiskey or brandy" in the filling. She also said the cake tasted best if made a day or two before serving. These days, dozens of variations can be found. Coconut, dried fruit, and nuts are commonly added to the filling, and some bakers like to use the filling mixture to ice the cake. Here is the recipe published by the Associated Press directly from the book:

Cake

3 ¼ cups sifted cake flour

2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder

1/16 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

8 egg whites

1 cup milk

On wax paper sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla. Add egg whites, in four additions, beating thoroughly after each addition.

Fold in flour mixture alternately with milk; begin and end with dry ingredients. Batter should be smooth but look slightly granular.

Turn into 4 ungreased 9-inch round layer-cake pans lined on the bottom with wax paper.

Bake in a 375-degree oven until edges shrink slightly from sides of pans and tops spring back when gently pressed with finger, or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean — about 20 minutes. Place pans on wire racks to cool for about 5 minutes.

Turn out on wire racks; remove wax paper; turn right side up; cool completely.

Put layers together (on a cake plate) with Lane Cake Filling, stacking carefully; do not spread filling over top. Cover top and sides with swirls of Boiled White Frosting.

Cover with a tent of foil or a cake cover; or cover tightly in a large deep bowl in tin box. Store in a cool place; if refrigerated, allow to stand at room temperature for half a day before serving because cake texture is best when cake is not served chilled

Filling

8 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

½ cup butter, at room temperature

1 cup seedless raisins, finely chopped

1/3 cup bourbon or brandy

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a 2-quart saucepan, beat the egg yolks well; beat in sugar and butter. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until quite thick. Remove from heat; stir in raisins, bourbon and vanilla. Cool slightly; use as directed.

Boiled white frosting

(make from a standard recipe)

Modern icing

(This is a modern variation on the icing from “Forgotten Tales of Alabama” 2 egg whites 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/8 teaspoon salt (optional) 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Beat egg whites until stiff, and set aside. In a saucepan, combine sugar, water, cream of tartar, and salt, and bring to a boil, stirring. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add vanilla. Pour sugar mixture over egg whites, beating constantly. Frost top and sides of the cake.