The Lane Cake

Perhaps the Lane Cake gained popularity from the book, To Kill a Mockingbird. However, the Lane Cake has been a Southern tradition for over a hundred years, ever since it was first featured in a cookbook in 1898. it is said to be a blue ribbon winner at many county fairs!

The trickiest part, to me, is the frosting. I will give you tips, below.

Boiled White Frosting Tips

This is similiar to the Seven Minute Frosting, which you could also use for this cake.

I know ... I am starting with the END, The frosting! However, it is good to look ahead in this case.

Here are my tips for following the directions in the 1983 cookbook, Southern Heritage Cakes, as I did. (Recipe follows)

• Make sure eggs are at room temperature.

• Blend the egg whites until stiff peaks begin to form and then pour in the water/sugar/corn syrup mixture IMMEDIATELY! If you wait for your sugar-water mixture to cool just a bit, it will harden.

• Make sure you have a candy thermometer OR check the consistency by rolling a small piece and see if it turns into a soft ball. The thermometer should read 240 degrees.

• Also, I changed the recipe up a bit, instead of 2 egg whites, I changed it to 3.
  

Here is the recipe from 1983, close to the cake recipe in To kill a Mockingbird, but it adds ta couple of ingredients to the filling! Hope you enjoy.