Lane Cake — The Cake That Belongs on a Simms Family Table

Thanksgiving week, the first one. First everything this year—first Easter, first Mother's Day, first Father's Day, first homecoming, and now first Thanksgiving, the holiday that is most specifically about the table and the people at it, which makes it the one I have been dreading most acutely since March. I said this to Calvin. I said, "I am dreading Thursday," and he said, "I know," and we sat with that for a moment, and then I said, "But we are going to do it properly," and he said, "Yes. We are."

CJ drove down from Huntsville Tuesday. Destiny came Tuesday night. Doris and Harold came Wednesday, driving up from their house in Hoover, and James came from Montgomery, and Carolyn came from Bessemer—the siblings gathering the way the Simms family gathers for Thanksgiving, which is to say completely and without reservation, because Simms family holidays are not optional. You come. You show up. You eat.

I cooked for two days. The full Bernice menu: fried chicken because turkey is a suggestion but fried chicken is a requirement in this family, collard greens, mac and cheese, candied yams, cornbread dressing—not stuffing, dressing, there is a difference and the difference matters—black-eyed peas, green beans cooked long and Southern, sweet potato pie, pound cake, peach cobbler. I set the table for eleven and I set Marcus's place: his plate, his fork, his glass of sweet tea. My siblings noticed and did not say anything about it, which is the right response. You acknowledge the empty chair by not making it an issue. It is simply there. He is simply there.

Calvin said grace and he got through it—all of it, the thanksgiving and the remembering and the naming of Marcus in the prayer—without his voice breaking, which I consider a miracle, because mine broke twice just listening. After dinner we went around the table and said what we were thankful for, the way we have done every Thanksgiving since the children were small, and when it was CJ's turn he said, "I'm thankful Marcus got to have eighteen Thanksgivings at this table," and the whole table was quiet, and then everyone said amen. Yes. Eighteen. Amen.

The pound cake and the peach cobbler were Marcus’s — those were his, and I made them because I always make them and I will keep making them. But the Lane Cake was mine to claim this year, a cake I had been meaning to put on the table for years and kept pushing aside because Thanksgiving always felt too full already. This year I decided full was exactly right, that a table carrying this much weight deserved one more layer, one more thing built to last — and Lane Cake, the way my grandmother made it, is exactly that: a Southern cake that knows it’s for a gathering, not just a dinner.

Lane Cake

Prep Time: 40 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 1 hr 5 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

• For the cake layers:
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 large egg whites
• 1 cup whole milk
• For the filling:
• 8 large egg yolks
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup raisins, roughly chopped
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup bourbon or dark rum
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• For the frosting:
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Prepare the pans. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour four 9-inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar. Beat butter and 2 cups sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in vanilla.
4. Combine batter. Add flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture in three alternating additions, beginning and ending with flour, beating on low just until combined after each addition.
5. Fold in egg whites. In a separate clean bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Gently fold into the batter in two additions until no white streaks remain.
6. Bake the layers. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.
7. Make the filling. Whisk egg yolks and 1 cup sugar together in a heavy saucepan. Add butter and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and the mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 10 to 12 minutes. Do not boil. Remove from heat and stir in coconut, raisins, pecans, bourbon, and vanilla. Cool to room temperature.
8. Make the frosting. Combine 2 cups sugar and water in a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat to 240°F (soft ball stage). Meanwhile, beat egg whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks. With the mixer running, pour the hot syrup in a thin stream down the side of the bowl. Beat on high until the frosting is thick, glossy, and holds stiff peaks. Beat in vanilla.
9. Assemble the cake. Place one cake layer on a serving plate. Spread one-third of the filling over the top. Repeat with remaining layers and filling, ending with the fourth layer on top. Spread frosting over the top and sides of the cake.
10. Rest before slicing. Let the assembled cake sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours before cutting so the filling sets and the layers hold. The flavor deepens overnight.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 740 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 32g | Carbs: 104g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 210mg