On My 39th Birthday

Thanks to all for so many well wishes today. It has already been a lovely birthday weekend. I am not baking today, but I thought I would post a cake recipe today from Square Meals, the first vintage cookbook I collected. It is a book featuring very vintage cookbooks and recipes. Here is Pink Lady Baltimore Cake. According to this book Lady Baltimore Cake originated in the 1900's. I love pink cakes. My older son really wanted a turkey cake made out of cupcakes this weekend and that was delicious, but I'd love to try this one soon:

Cake

8 tablespoons butter (I do want to live to my 40th birthday, but I wouldn't eat this every day...)

1 cup sugar

5 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 cup milk

Tiny pinch salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F.  Cream butter until pale yellow, add sugar and blend until smooth.  Separate 4 eggs.  Beat 4 egg yolks and 1 whole egg and add to butter and sugar mixture.  Sift flour twice with baking powder and add alternately with milk by spoonfuls to egg and sugar mixture.  Beat egg whites stiff but not dry with pinch of salt, add vanilla and fold lightly into batter.  Bake in 3 greased and floured 9-inch cake pans 20 minutes.  Cool on wire rack. (I also like 3 layer cakes, since I can so rarely achieve that they are a rare treat.)

Filling

1 cup sugar

5 tablespoons water

1 egg white

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/2 cup chopped Maraschino cherries

1/2 cup chopped seeded raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Boil sugar and water, uncovered, until mixture reaches 240F.  Beat egg white until it holds soft peak, add lemon juice, then add sugar-water mixture and beat until creamy.  Add chopped cherries, raisins and nuts and mix gently.  The cherries will tint the filling a tantalizing red. (I love the word tantalizing.)

Frosting

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup water

2 egg whites

1 tsp. lemon juice

2 tablespoons Maraschino cherry juice, or 4 drops of red food coloring.

1 tsp. almond extract

Pecan halves

Cook sugar and water until a little lifted from a spoon forms a thread (230 on a candy thermometer).  Beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks; pour hot syrup over them.  Add lemon juice, cherry juice, and extract, and continue beating until frosting is thick enough to spread. 

Assemble cake.  Decorate with a circle of pecan halves.

I got a fantastic gift from my wonderful husband today:  a TAPS t-shirt.  We love watching Ghost Hunters and that was a terrific surprise. We are also going antiquing today, and hit a yarn shop and had a nice meal already this weekend. I am very spoiled.