Lady Baltimore Cake

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350

Prepare two 8-inch cake pans. Grease them with butter and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, use a stand mixer or hand mixer to cream your room temperature butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. 

Add your milk and vanilla to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix on medium speed until well combined. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift together your flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 

Using a mixer and another large bowl, whisk your egg whites until they reach stiff peaks. This should take about 5-7 minutes. Set aside.

Add your flour mixture to your butter mixture and stir until just combined. 

Fold your egg whites into your batter gently, using a “figure eight” motion and scraping the sides of the bowl. Do this until everything has just combined and you don’t see streaks of egg white. 

Pour the batter into your prepared cake pans, dividing it evenly. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a fork inserted in the center comes out clean.

Once done, immediately remove the cakes from the pans and set them on a cooling rack to cool. Allow them to come down to room temperature before assembly. 

Once your cakes are done, don’t turn the oven off just yet. You can begin making your filling, which requires toasted walnuts. 

Put one cup of walnuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and pop them in the oven for 5-6 minutes, or until you begin to smell them toasting. Once you smell them, it’s time to take them out, as they can burn quickly. 

Remove them from the baking sheet and divide them into two bowls to cool down. You’ll use one bowl for your filling and one bowl for decorating. Set one aside. 

Chop up your raisins and dried fig into small pieces. Add them to your remaining bowl of roasted walnuts and set aside. 

Now it’s time to make your 7-minute icing. 

First, you’ll need a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, you can make one using a large pot and a heat-safe bowl that fits on top of the pot without falling inside of it. 

Take the large pot and fill it up halfway with water. Bring the water to a boil and place the heat-safe bowl over the pot.

Add your cream of tartar, sugar, salt, egg whites, and cold water into the heat-safe bowl. 

Set a timer for 7 minutes and begin whisking it immediately with a hand mixer on high speed. The icing is usually done in 7 minutes, and you’ll know it’s done when it’s stiff and glossy, easily holding its shape. 

Once your icing is done, add about ¼ of the icing to your bowl of chopped raisins, figs, and toasted walnuts. Mix it to combine, making a spreadable mixture. 

Now that all the parts of your cake are made, it’s time to assemble your Lady Baltimore cake. 

You will want to start immediately, as the 7-minute frosting is difficult to spread once it’s cooled down. 

Put down one layer of cake.

Evenly spread your fruit and nut filling on top of the first layer of cake. 

Set the second layer of cake on top of the filling. 

Spread an even layer of icing on the top of the cake, and around the sides. This may take a moment, but the 7-minute frosting spreads easily when it’s warm. 

After your cake is iced, you can decorate it with the reserved toasted walnuts and maraschino cherries.

Serve and enjoy within one week.