Lots About Lane Cake, TKAM, And A Carrot Cake Recipe
Yesterday for St. Patrick’s Day, for whatever reason, instead of making corned beef and cabbage or boxtys or anything else, I made a cake. A carrot cake.
Outside, the daffodils have been blooming and I know the azaleas aren’t too far behind…it just feels like spring, and spring means food like carrot cakes.
Well, actually I’ve been in the mood to make a Lane cake (it’s also called “Prize Cake”) but at the moment I can’t have any alcohol, so…no alcohol, no Lane cake. For now. Anyway, Lane cake is a special-occasion cake. It is *the cake* of Alabama.
And one thing about Lane cake is that it is made in pie tins rather than cake pans. I was wondering if I remembered that right, and sure enough they mention it in the Encyclopedia of Alabama article.
Here is the recipe for the carrot cake I made yesterday (and like Lane cake, it actually gets a little better after a day or two).
Carrot Cake Ingredients for a 2-layer cake:
for the cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil (you can use a very mild oil like canola or peanut, I even use a mild olive oil)
2 eggs
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
5 medium carrots, shredded
1 cup chopped pecans (in nice-size chunks – not too big, but not too fine!)
2 cake pans buttered with a circle of parchment paper in the bottom (like a Lane cake, I use pie tins sometimes)
Icing:
8 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
16 oz cream cheese (2 blocks), cut into pieces
2 cups confectioner’s sugar (once you’re making the icing, taste and see if you want to use more)
2 c. chopped pecans (same size as in the cake batter)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350*.
In the Kitchenaid, mix together the white and brown sugar plus the oil:
Next, mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Now, the vanilla. Now add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Don’t mix too much, just until it comes together:
Add the carrots plus the pecans, mix, and pour evenly in each of the cake pans or pie tins. After 25-30 minutes, the cake should be done:
Once these are cool, make the icing. In a clean Kitchenaid bowl, mix together the butter and cream cheese, then when that comes together well, the confectioners sugar. It will take a while of mixing in the Kitchenaid for it to reach a good spreading consistency (probably about 6 or 8 minutes). Add in the pecan pieces, mix again:
Flip the cake over onto a plate, spread the icing on top, then the next layer of cake, and spread the rest of the icing all over the top and sides:
I doubled this recipe and made a four-layer cake this time (which you only do if you’re feeding a crowd):
Next, mix in the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Now, the vanilla. Now add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Don’t mix too much, just until it comes together:
