These old-fashioned Lane Cakes are the perfect size for serving at tea.
Lane Cakes
Serves: 2 (9-inch) cakes • Preparation: 1 hour • Bake: 20 minutes • Cool: 1 hour
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped golden raisins
- ½ cup dry sherry
- 1 (16.5-ounce) white cake mix
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup water
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 8 large egg yolks
- 1⅓ cups granulated sugar
- ½ cup salted butter, melted
- 1 cup chopped toasted pecans
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, finely chopped
- 1 cup chopped dates
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 recipe Vanilla-Marshmallow Frosting (recipe follows)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In a small bowl, pour sherry over raisins, and let soak. Set aside.
- Spray 2 (9-inch) cake pans with baking spray with flour. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, water, sour cream, oil, and lemon zest. Beat at low speed with a mixer for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. Increase speed to medium, and beat for 2 minutes. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans. Tap pans on countertop to reduce air bubbles.
- Bake until layers are light golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the centers comes out clean, approximately 20 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out layers onto wire cooling racks, and let cool completely.
- In a medium saucepan away from heat, combine egg yolks and sugar, stirring until smooth. Add melted butter, transfer saucepan to stovetop, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture coats the back of a spoon, 5 to 6 minutes. Do not let egg mixture boil.
- Add pecans, coconut, dates, and raisins with sherry, stirring to blend. Cook for approximately 1 minute.
- Add vanilla extract and salt, stirring to blend. Remove saucepan from heat, and let fruit mixture cool to lukewarm.
- Place each cake on a serving plate. Spread half of fruit mixture on top of each cake, leaving a ½-inch border around edge. (This is where frosting will be piped).
- Using an offset spatula, spread Vanilla-Marshmallow Frosting around sides of cakes. Place remaining frosting in a piping bag fitted with a medium open-star tip (Wilton #21). Pipe a decorative shell border around edge of cakes.
- Serve immediately, or store, lightly covered, in the refrigerator for several hours. Let come to room temperature before serving.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 9208 Fat: 466g Saturated fat: 156g Unsaturated fat: 284g Trans fat: 4g Carbohydrates: 1189g Sugar: 975g Sodium: 6102mg Fiber: 38g Protein: 87g Cholesterol: 2397mg
Vanilla-Marshmallow Frosting
Serves: 1½ cups • Preparation: 10 minutes
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter, softened
- 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup marshmallow crème
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine butter, confectioners’ sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Beginning at low speed and gradually increasing to high speed, beat with a mixer until frosting is smooth and creamy. Add marshmallow crème, beating well.
- Use immediately, or cover, and refrigerate until needed, up to a day. Let come to room temperature before using.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 2167 Fat: 93g Saturated fat: 59g Unsaturated fat: 28g Trans fat: 4g Carbohydrates: 337g Sugar: 270g Sodium: 979mg Protein: 3g Cholesterol: 246mg
From TeaTime, September/October 2015
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Lane Cake Recipe: It appears to me that only one of the 9-in cake layers is present in the photo. Did you make two one-layer cakes for presentation, versus a two-layer cake? I like it! One on each end of the table for ease of serving (and smaller pieces to go around for the ones watching their calorie intake, or don’t have room for a larger two-layer slice).
As the recipe says, it makes two (9-inch) cakes. Only one is shown in the photo.