I really love the way technology makes it possible for us to share our recipes these days. What we used to do through cards and letters, newspaper and magazine clippings, or simply by word of mouth, we can now accomplish within seconds. Just a quick Google search and virtually any recipe ever thought of appears on your screen.
I’m even more grateful that technology is helping us to preserve our old heritage recipes like the one I’m sharing with you today.
These beautiful multi-layer cakes have, for as long as I can remember, always been a part of family reunions, church dinners, and most holidays in the southwest corner of Georgia where I grew up. You may think at first glance that they’re standard cake layers that have been split and filled, but they’re not. Not at all. Each little thin layer is baked separately. To make it even more different from traditional layer cakes, it’s iced with warm icing while the layers themselves are still warm. Totally goes against the conventional method, doesn’t it?
In the small town where I grew up, lots of ladies make these cakes for a little extra income on the side. They come in two versions – chocolate or caramel. Some of them make a fairly brisk business of it especially around Christmas.
Now way back when, these cakes were made by cooking each layer in a hoecake pan or iron skillet on top of the stove, but now most everyone cooks the layers in the oven. It just goes faster when you can bake three or four layers at one time, you see. If you’re really experienced with little layer cakes, you can get as many as fourteen layers from your batter. I got ten this time. I need to practice more.
The recipe that I have is so typical of old-time recipes. It assumes that the cook pretty much knows what to do and only the bare essentials are given. For instance, the instructions for the batter read “Mix well. Grease 8″ pans with Crisco. Put 2 large cooking spoonfuls in each pan. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes.” That’s it. And the instructions for the icing are “Place over low heat until all is dissolved. Do not boil. Be sure all sugar is melted.” Well, alrighty then!
I’ve tried to re-write and modernize the instructions a bit for you.
A few years ago, Kim Severson of the New York Times did a story on these little layer cakes. I had the pleasure of hearing Kim speak at FoodBlogSouth. She’s a very accomplished food writer and has received numerous accolades, including several James Beard Awards. In her story, she talked about how the cakes were made only in one area in Alabama and on Smith Island near Maryland. Well, I can assure you that they are part of the fabric of at least one small southwest Georgia town as well :-)
Before starting your baking, make sure to have all the ingredients at room temperature. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and go ahead and prep your 8″ cake pans with shortening and set them aside. How many layers you bake at once depends on how many pans you have and can fit into your oven without them touching. Some people use the disposable cake pans for this, but I don’t see the need. I just wipe them out and re-grease between each set of layers.
Now, unlike other cakes, you actually start your little layer cake by making the icing first.
Place a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-low heat. The heat should be barely medium-low. If in doubt, go lower. Add the sugar, baking chocolate, evaporated milk, butter, and vanilla all at once. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring occasionally. It is important that the icing does not boil and that you make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved and no grainy texture remains.
Meanwhile, make the batter. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs all at once and beat until well incorporated. Add the flour and water alternately, beginning and ending with flour. (Note: the batter will appear to be curdled after each addition of water – this is normal.) Mix in the vanilla.
Pour approximately 3/4 cup batter into each prepared pan. Smooth the batter to the edges. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until layers are barely golden on top. Remove from oven and turn out onto cooling racks.
Clean the pans, grease them and repeat baking. When second set of layers goes into the oven, begin icing the cake.
Place a still-warm layer on a cardboard round set atop a cooling rack inside a baking sheet. Spread 1/4 cup icing on the layer spreading it gently to the edges. Top with the next layer and repeat. (Note: the icing will be thin and fairly runny. It will drip down the sides of the layers. This is to be expected. Any excess icing should be scraped up and returned to the pan and all of it used in the icing of the cake. This is why I strongly recommend icing the cake set on a cooling rack in a baking pan.)
When all layers have been stacked and iced, spread remaining icing over top and sides of the cake. If the icing becomes thick, return the pan to very low heat until it returns to spreading consistency.
Smooth the icing around the sides of the cake, but realize that the contours are supposed to be visible on the outside of the cake.
Enjoy!
A heritage recipe for a "little layer cake" from southwest Georgia
Ingredients
- Solid shortening for greasing pans
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 1/2 blocks unsweetened baking chocolate
- 2 5-oz. cans evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 6 eggs
- 3 1/2 cups self-rising flour, sifted
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Have all ingredients at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease 8” cake pans with shortening and set aside.
- Make the icing first. Place a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-low heat. Add the sugar, baking chocolate, evaporated milk, butter, and vanilla all at once. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved, stirring frequently. Do not boil. It is important to make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved and no grainy texture remains.
- Meanwhile, make the batter. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs all at once and beat until well incorporated. Add the flour and water alternately, beginning and ending with flour. (Note: the batter will appear to be curdled after each addition of water – this is normal.) Mix in the vanilla.
- Pour approximately 3/4 cup batter into each prepared pan. Smooth the batter to the edges. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until layers are barely golden on top. Remove from oven and turn out onto cooling racks.
- Clean the pans, grease them and repeat baking. When second set of layers goes into the oven, begin icing the cake. Place a still-warm layer on a cardboard round set atop a cooling rack inside a baking sheet. Spread 1/4 cup icing on the layer spreading it gently to the edges. Top with the next layer and repeat.
- When all layers have been stacked and iced, spread remaining icing over top and sides of the cake. If the icing becomes thick, return the pan to very low heat until it returns to spreading consistency.
I’m quite interested in knowing whether my readers have ever seen this type of cake or whether it really is localized to the southeast Alabama-southwest Georgia area. If you have a minute, please leave a quick comment. Thanks!
_________________________________________
What I was cooking…
- One year ago: Coconut Meringue Pie
- Two years ago: BLT Bites
- Three years ago: Fresh Salad Greens with Classic Vinaigrette
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{ 107 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve seen lots of these in Eastern North Carolina, only the little ol’ granny I know that makes them makes a full size layer and splits it in half with a thin guitar string looking thing.
Yes, I’ve seen cakes with split layers lots of time, but I’m specifically wondering whether others cook the individual thin layers like this. Thanks for responding!
This one is a beauty!!!! and—-something that I have NEVER tried to make. As long as the icing is good, it doesn’t seem to matter how the layers are. So many people just go for the icing. Me–I like the layers too.
Thanks! I thought it was pretty even if it was just a teeny bit lopsided. And I like it all – layers and icing! Some people have trouble getting the icing smooth but this didn’t have a single grain of sugary-ness in it.
There is a lady near Savannah, Ga. that makes these and hers are 18 layers. She does the yellow cake with chocolate icing, yellow cake with caramel icing, and a mocha cake with chocolate icing in the little layers. They are delicious!
Amanda – I’ve known some people who could get as much as 18 layers from their batter, too. I’ve just got to keep practicing to get it perfect. And I’ve never had the mocha version but it sounds delicious!
I live in Eastern North Carolina too and it would not be a family reunion without one of these cakes. I have never seen the recipe although Gladys has told me how she makes hers. Personally I would rather eat one somebody else made!
Hi Nancy – interesting that you and one other person mentioned seeing these cakes in eastern NC. From my other hobby, genealogy, I know that quite a few people in our area have family ties to eastern North Carolina.
Everybody would look forward to Gladys’s cake and if you didn’t get a piece before you got your food you would be out of luck. I have a funny story to tell you. My mother found a woman that would make those cakes and she would get one for holidays, birthdays or her bridge club. She would not tell anyone the woman’s name! My mother took that woman’s name and phone number to her grave!
What a stunning (7 layer?) cake. I’m a layer splitter, using unwaxed, unflavored dental floss, but I’ve always wanted to try the individually baked layers, even though it takes a little more time. They sell them in bakeries here (Northeast), but they’re usually rectangular. I’d give anything for a slice of that beauty, now.
It’s 10 layers, Lisa. I need more practice to get up to 14 :-)
10 separate layers of cake, or 10 layers of cake and frosting? Here they call them 7 layer cakes, but I’ll have to count the cake layers to make sure they didn’t include the frosting as a layer lol
So beautiful!
I make one with 12 layers. I have 6 pans and I put wax paper in them. That way when they come out of the oven I can pull them right out of the pans. Bake the remainder while the first ones cool. Ive tried doing thin layered red velvet but it stuck to the wax paper. Only tried it once but I know it can be done because Ive had one and its awesome. By the way Im in southeast Ga about an hour from Savannah.
Thena, I haven’t had the little layer red velvet but I’m sure it’s delicious.
Ok, confession time. I tried to make this cake one time. One time. I did not have the foresight to think to place it on a rack over a baking pan to try to ice the thing. I chased icing all over my countertops, scooping, and trying to get it on the blasted cake. I did not have a happy experience.
I am jealous.
Miss P
Oh, yeah. That icing can be hard to corral!
I never made one of these in my years in the south but now I remember them…and you do it such justice; looks absolutely lovely Lana. LOVE the instructions from the original; so true of a lot of older recipes I have too.
Thanks for the memories.
Don’t you just love the instructions in old recipes! So simple. They put into two lines what we take a page and a half to write.
Nothing looks little about that cake! ;)
Absolutely gorgeous, I’m in awe!!
This cake looks wonderful! It reminds me of the doberge cakes so popular in south Louisiana. Doberge is a Christmas tradition in our family. These cakes are a lot of work and I admire you for making one.
I had not heard of doberge cakes, so I did a Google search. Oh, my, they look delicious!! Very much like our little layer cakes.
I live in central Ohio and do not see these layer cakes. I have made them thanks to the web but also thanks to some historical camping and old cookbooks. I have forgotten now where I read this, but I thought an
APPLE STACK CAKE was the oldest written cake recipe from the colonists.A variation of your recipe and popular for weddings where each guest family would supply a layer of cake and the bride’s family supplied the apple filling. True or not I love the idea of the community coming together for the couple.
I would like to try and bake a cake on the stovetop.
That’s so interesting, Penny! I have not heard of the apple stack cake but now I want to research it. I’m sure that these small layer stacked cakes probably originated with layers that were cooked in a skillet because no oven was available. They’re also very similar to a torte and may have evolved in some way from that classic recipe. Probably people just making do the best they could with what they had on hand.
omg this looks fantastic!!!
What a beautiful masterpiece!! really fantasticly put together and gorgeously delicious :)
Mary x
I’m from Iowa and I’ve never seen this before. If it had made it to our little part of the country, I’m sure Grandma would have made it or it would have shown up at a family reunion!
Lana, I`m friends with Brenda and Ted Horton and live at Lake Blackshear and I know you know where Irvinville, Ga. is you being from Sylvester. There`s a lady who lives in Irvinville who makes these cakes every year at christmas . She also works for one of my husband`s customers in the pecan business and she makes sure I get one of these cakes every christmas. They are DELICIOUS. Her`s are 14 layers and so moist. She also makes delicious pound cakes and sweet potato pies.
Hi Marianne – These really are very special cakes, aren’t they? Around my hometown they come in either chocolate or caramel. I’ve heard from several people who have had them in red velvet as well. That sounds delicious!
Actually, I’m not from Sylvester, I’m from Colquitt (Miller County).
My Grandmother made this cake during holidays. She lived in Atlanta. Thanks for the recipe, it brings back great memories.
Thank you, Jeanne. It always makes me happy to bring back memories through my recipes.
Lana,
In south central Alabama, these layer cakes can still be found and I remember them from my childhood! My sister-in-law makes the chocolate one and her family calls it the “Son” cake, because she only makes it when her son comes down from Virginia! The entire family wishes he would come more often! I made one for a cake auction and it brought $180.00 for charity! The apple stack cake is also made in our area of the south! Homemade dried apples were used in it. Thanks for the wonderful post!
Thank you for your comment, Glinda. Wow – your cake brought $180? That’s fantastic! I’d love to try the apple stack cake – sounds like it would be good in the Fall.
Lana, I recently found your blog and just love it! My grandparents are from Coolidge, Ga and this cake reminds me so much of my grandmother! She always made the caramel version for holidays and family dinners. I now live in Dallas, Texas and am going to make this cake and introduce it to the Texans! Thank you!
Thanks, Elizabeth! I just know your Texas friends are going to love our little layer cakes.
Lana, I’m from South West Georgia and my mother has been making this cake for as long a I can remember. I’ve never seen it anywhere else and she does bake each thin layer like this. Her recipe says it make 16 layers, but to hear her tell it she has only accomplished all 16 layers once. She usually breaks or burns a few layers, which is pretty easy since they are so thin. So her’s are usually 12-14 layers, but no one really cares what the exact number is or if it’s a little lop-sided, they just want to eat it :)
Hi Connie – weren’t we lucky to grow up in a place with fantastic recipes like these little layer cakes? I’ve got to keep practicing so I can get up to at least 14 layers from my batter :-)
Oh my gosh, this looks divine! I have been mildly obsessed with layer cakes lately and will have to give this a try. I too remember them growing up. Boiled fudge icing is one of my favorite things in the whole world. Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful cake!
Lana,
I’ve been looking for a recipe like this forever. My grandmama made one of the that was 16 layers for my 16th birthday. She died last year without writing any of her recipes down, and I am pretty sure this recipe is close, if not the one, that she used. Thank you for posting this! I love your blog! I’m a Worth County girl, transplanted to PA via NJ and miss good Southern cooking.
Hi Missy – I hope this recipe will be similar to the one your grandmother made. It’s the traditional one used in my home area so hopefully it’s close to hers. I’d love to know if there are any other southern recipes you’d like to see on the blog. Thanks for stopping by.
Have you ever hear this called Smith Island Cake? I just happened to pick up a Feb. 2009 issue of Cook’s Country, and they had this featured as their Great American Cake. Apparently, it was made the official dessert of the state of Maryland.
Yes, I’ve read quite a bit about the Smith Island Cakes and I think it’s similar but not exactly the same as ours. Theirs have fewer layers, if I recall correctly.
Oooh! I have a LOT of Southern recipes I’m looking for. Lately, I’ve been craving Lemon Cheese Cake. Not to be confused with Lemon Cheesecake. I know you know what I’m talking about.
I know *exactly* what you’re talking about and I actually have my Mama’s lemon cheese cake recipe that I’ve been meaning to cook and photograph for the blog for the longest time. You’ve just given me the inspiration I needed to get that one done this weekend. Look for it next week. By the way, do you like your lemon cheese with the white frosting or just the layers with filling?
I’ve seen it with the white frosting (I assume it’s a 7 minute?) with the lemon cheese between the layers, but I have only had it where the layers were filled and the cake was frosted on the outside with the Lemon Cheese. I cannot wait to see what you come up with! I remember my grandmama Harris making hers, and thinking that 9 egg yolks was an obscene anount of eggs to use. LOL That was in the eighties when everyone was concerned about eggs and cholesterol. Her recipe came from a Mitchell EMC fundraiser cookbook, which disappeared.
Yes, it’s the 7-minute frosting. Mama always leaves hers just plain layers with filling and that’s the way I like it, too, but seems like most people want the frosting. Just kind of takes away from the lemon cheese to me :-)
I’m from the west (now living in the midwest), we didn’t have anything like this gorgeous little cake out there. This looks wonderful. Will you be making the caramel version soon?? That one sounds delicious too. Thanks for posting.
I hadn’t planned to make the caramel one since the chocolate is my favorite. However, I might be persuaded…
Here in a very small town in upstate South Carolina it is still being
made. The wonderful lady who always brought it to all our church gatherings has passed on, but a couple years before, she invited my oldest married daughter to come over and spend the day learning to make it and bringing home the result! I think it was 17 layers that day, but thats the fun of it, you never know how many layers you will end up with. Thats a cake that is always asked for at special occasions. Good to see others are making it.
Hi Cindy – It’s been fun to read all the comments from people who know about these little layer cakes. So glad your daughter learned to make it and is keeping this little piece of our heritage alive.
Hmmm…Please, please, please! I absolutely love caramel. Plus, I’m pregnant and a caramel cake sounds fabulous about right now! ;) I bet you have some readers that are caramel fans too. Yum!
Well, you could always make my Caramel Layer Cake. Recipe’s here: http://www.lanascooking.com/2010/05/06/caramel-layer-cake/
Your cake looks delicious. It reminds me of a Dobosh Torte we made in cooking school. A lot of work for sure!
I regret I don’t know the name of the southeast Georgia town we traveled through about four years ago, or the restaurant that served several of these magnificent cakes in two different locations. I took a lot of pictures and tried everything I could to figure out how the cakes were made. The restaurant had some information handy that insisted the cakes were truly baked in separate layers, not split, but I couldn’t believe it — until now. I am so excited to know how this is done. And may I second Bakeaholic’s abject plea for the caramel version? Could it be done in 7 – 14 layers using your recipe? I made a caramel cake from a recent Saveur last week, and it all worked beautifully, but just in two layers, with a most strange and interesting boiled icing. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Wow, what a cool recipe! Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
Love this beautiful mile-high layer cake, Lana. It’s stunning. The icing is perfect and lovely dripping down the sides tempting me since I saw it the other day. I grew up eating a similar multi-layered cake from Hungary (Dobos Torte). I can’t wait to see if you get up to 14 layers!;)
My 81 year old mother has been making these for years. She gets 18 layers out of hers. She has 20+ cake pans, she greases 18 of them at a time, puts the cake batter in all and then bakes 3 at a time. Everyone loves her cakes! We live in the Sandhills of North Carolina.
My grandmother in Hahira Ga. Used to make this cake every time we would come to visit from Alabama. I recently ask my Aunt Marynell for this recipe!
I am from eastern South Carolina…we have a few ladies that make these upon request. I actually just finished eating a slice…this time our cake had 23 layers!!! (cake only)
Hi great site-especially love the layer cake. It brings back so many happy memories. I’m from the Piedmont area of SC and my family always had these cakes during the holidays. Layer cakes are bragging rights for many ladies, aunts and grannies. The taller the better. Sadly I never made one but I just might give it a try and surprise my family.
Hi Stacy and thanks for your kind comment. These cakes are such a part of our heritage. Let’s keep making them and passing down our recipes to younger cooks!
My grandmother made these using a cast iron pan. South Georgia…Wiregrass Country. They were common growing up and even though the cake itself isn’t chocolate I called it the chocolate cake.
Hi Mary – I’ve seen people make these little cakes one layer at a time in a skillet. Whichever method you choose, they’re just delicious aren’t they?
Here in Maryland they are known as Smith Island cakes. Smith Island is located in the Chesapeake Bay.
I grew up in Atlanta but I’ve seen these around at various events in the city and the mountains, so they’re present in the north half of the state too. Ironically, when I’ve had them in South GA they were clearly split layers.
my mother is from Miller cty…….has lived in Camilla after she married my daddy….where we grew up
You’re probably really familiar with these little layer cakes then!
Oh my gosh I have been looking for these everywhere! My grandmother used to have them all the time when I visited her house because they were mine and my Grandaddy’s favorite. She lives in a small town near Dothan in the South East area of Alabama. I asked her how to make them recently but she’s on in years and didn’t remember the kind I was talking about. Now I can make this in rememberance of my Grandaddy and the summers I spent drinking sweet tea and reading on his porch swing. It really means a lot, thank you.
I’m so glad you found a recipe for the little layer cakes you remember your grandmother making, Stephanie. It makes my day when one of my recipes brings back sweet memories for someone. I’m from southwest Georgia, just a little way from Dothan, so I’d bet our recipes are very similar. Here’s another one from our area that I bet you might remember your grandmother making, too: Old Fashioned Southern Teacakes (http://www.lanascooking.com/2011/03/01/old-fashioned-southern-teacakes-and-a-lifetime-of-food-memories/)
Hi….I’ve enjoyed seeing your website. The multi-layer cake is found in many areas. I’m from Ozark, AL.(20 Mi. N of Dothan) and I know of many little ol’ ladies who make this cake, especially for bake sales and holidays. I’ve heard it called the ’14 Layer Cake’ and the frosting is usually chocolate, but have seen caramel as you mentioned above. I’m sure this recipe(or a version of it) has been around for a long time and is common throughout the Deep South(NC,SC, GA, FL, AL, MISS, LA, TENN & TX) and is not really from a particular ‘area’. Everyone seems to think ‘their area’ is the only one with ‘sweet tea’, pound cakes, tea cakes or other old fashioned recipes. LOL! I am a foodie myself and enjoy collecting recipes and trying them out to see if they compare to my mother’s cooking. Most don’t hold up to the test of time, as you can imagine.
My great grandmother moved to California from Canton, Mississippi. She made this cake for us every time we came to visit. I had no idea it was a Southern food until I saw an article about layered cakes in the New York times. I am so thankful to have come across your recipe because it closely resembles that cake that she used to make. Thank you.
I have been making these for years. They are wonderful!!! The caramel version is to die for as well especially with the home made caramel. The original recipes for the layers called for them to be “baked” on the stove top in a cast iron skillet. Me, I have always used 8” or 9″ pans in the oven; I will try the cast iron someday. Great site and yes, let’s keep the traditions going by passing these great recipes down
My Bigmama made these but I never saw how she did it. I just inherited a flat cast iron pan that was my great great grandmother’s that she used to make this cake. Yes, that means she cooked each layer one by one on top of the stove, wood burning stove I’m sure.
Hi Lisa – I have one of those flat griddles, too, and I’ve made this cake on it as well. It just takes *forever* waiting on each layer to cook on the stovetop. Most people now bake the layers in the oven.
My granny was famous for her layered chocolate cakes she would usually only make about seven or eight layers, but OMG they is nothing in the world like them. She’s been gone for four years now and I’ve tried several times to make them and have gotten close using her hand written recipe, but like most southern cooks they never really measured anything back in the day, so I think I’m going to try this one and see how close I get to hers.
My daughter requested that I make one for Thanksgiving this year so I’ve been combing the web. After eleventeen google pages, it finally came up with your recipe, which is the exact one I was looking for. The rest of them were for the chocolate buttercream filled. I made one several years ago, baking each layer individually, but was stumped by the frosting. So excited to be able to try this one! We had been getting them from a lady in Jacksonville, NC, but she quit making them. I don’t know where she got her recipe from, but I remember seeing them occasionally when I was growing up in Chapel Hill, NC.
My Grandmother lived in Marianna Florida. I remember her baking this cake through out my life in Marianna and Panama City FL. I make one at least once a year. Florida loves tiny layer cakes with chocolate frosting.
My grandmother used to make a stack cake like this with one addition. She added pecans between every layer. I always wanted to know how to recreate this cake as it was my favorite. I never knew how she made the chocolate glaze but this is definitely the cake. My family is from Eastern NC, Duplin County. They had a lot of pecan trees where my grandmother lived so this would account for the addition of the pecans. Grandmother also made the same cake with coconut filling and with pineapple filling. Those three marvelous stack cakes were her specialties every holiday. Hers had 12 layers. Thanks so much for posting this.
I made the cake tonight – ugliest cake I’ve ever made made but tastes fantastic! Lesson learned – if you use the parchment paper for baking, remove it as soon as the cakes come out of the pan or they stick and cause the thin layers to tear.
Thank you for sharing this recipe! It is a favorite here in SE Alabama / NW Florida. I wanted to attempt my first one today, on my own, before asking for help from my husband’ s grandmother “MeMa” on the next one. Your icing recipe isn’t exactly like hers, but it looks fabulous!
Oh, and I have a friend who has made up to 21 layers! They are always the biggest money maker at our charity cake auctions!
Good luck, Stacie! I’d love to know how it turns out for you.
I live in Whitesburg GA which is west GA. I had one of these for my birthday many years. A little lady from Arnco made it.
My sister made these for years and I have made them as well.
My grandfather (raised in SE Georgia and then moved to Jacksonville FL) worked for the railroad. We would go visit him out on the camp cars (they stayed out all week working on location). The cook for the crew used to make a seven layer cake that we loved. We were just talking about it over the holidays. We will have to try this and see if it reminds us of Pete’s cake. Looks like it could be it.
Wow, more favorites. Grew up with this chocolate cake but fewer layers, lemon cheese cake, and caramel. I ask my sister several years ago for chocolate cake recipe. Her response was about 3 tbsp of butter, more or less, 2 cups of something else, more or less and on and on. I took all of her list of ingredients and finally put together a good icing. She used regular milk and cocoa in hers instead of evaporated milk and chocolate squares. My daughters now cook this icing. We use the quick method (cake mix) probably why we don’t get lots of layers but what we make never lasts long. My mother cooked the cheese cake and caramel. You must have attended church dinners too! My father was quite good with cooking pit barbecue, his own Brunswick stew and cane syrup. A family member who lives in Ga now brought me a stalk of sugar cane and wanted to know what to do with it. Use to walk the square in Colquitt on Saturdays and go to movies in old theater, have a hamburger at Ma Harrell’s on corner of square.
You know I don’t make this cake very often, but when I do it’s gone before we know it. Of course, I grew up going to church dinners (dinner on the grounds as we called it). Ma Harrell’s was before my time but I’ve heard my mother and grandmother talk about it many times.
Love this cake! I had my first slice when my husband took me to visit his family in Nashville, GA. Every time we headed south to visit his family we looked forward to having another slice this cake.
Thank you for posting this recipe.
Anne
You’re welcome, Anne! I love keeping these old recipes alive for future generations to enjoy.
Yes I grew up my step mom would make this cake love love love it!!! Thin layers. And I going to attempt it myself!
I’m from the Albany area originally and have lived in Sylvester and Baconton! My Aunt just made this cake the last time I visited. Everyone goes nuts over it. I’m planning my 1st attempt at this cake for Easter this weekend:)
hi, the cake looks amazing! can u please tell me is it moist cake? or more on the dry side?
If you overcook the little layers then, yes, it could be dry. You just have to be very careful not to do that. Otherwise, it’s great. Not greatly moist, but nice.
thanks Lana! I will definitely give it a try!
We have definitely been making this cake here in upstate South Carolina as long as I can remember. My daughter usually gets 12 to 14 layers, but the lady who taught her how to make them sometimes got 16. Delicious cake!
They are popular with the older generation in the northwestern part of South Carolina. Most people make them with 12 layers, but my neighbor could make 16. I think it is time to try making one myself!
Hi! I just found this post through the Southern Food Bloggers page, but I love it! I’m over in Bainbridge (so it’s nice to find someone blogging nearby!) but grew up in Bristol, Florida, just over the line. I had one of these little layer chocolate cakes for my birthday every year of my life! Now I’m making them too. A trick I use – I bought 14 aluminum pans from the Dollar General – that way I don’t have to wash and re-grease while I’m focusing on baking! I let the dishwasher do the rest. :) You can see my most recent little layer cake on my blog. Thanks for sharing – you don’t see them very often anymore, especially outside of the tri-state area! And you’ve got a new follower in me. :)
Natalie
oystersandpearls.net
Welcome Natalie! I’m happy to have you as a follower. Yes, I grew up in southwest Georgia, but I live north of Atlanta now. These very special cakes are a part of our culinary history that I hope younger cooks will keep alive. They’re a lot of work to make, but soooo worth it!
Hi! I’m from South Carolina and my grandma made this cake for every special occasion and for many Sunday family dinners. It brings back so many memories! Thanks for sharing the recipe! :-)
I live in Madison, FL and we have several people in town who make these 10 layer cakes with the individual layers. I can’t wait to try making this one. Thank you for the recipe.
Hope it turns out great for you, Karen!
I made this for the first time today and ended up with nine layers and it looks pretty good. It was not as hard to make as I thought it would be. Trying to give it some sitting time but I have 2 sons that had to taste it immediately. They think it is good. Kind of excited to make this old time favorite! Thanks for the recipe from a fellow GA Peach. (Macon). :)
I am going to try this cake tonight. I’m originally from Anderson,SC and this cake was a special treat anytime or church had a dinner. It was made by a little lady we called Mama Grease because she was always cooking. I haven’t had one of her cakes in over 30 years. No pressure for your recipe. My cooking ability are questionable.
Well I made the cake and it is delicious. I actually dug in while it was still warm and I realized later that it tastes the best when cooled completely.
Here is a pic of the cake when the icing is still cooling on it.
http://app6.websitetonight.com/projects/2/3/8/8/2388301/uploads/cake.jpg
That looks just perfect, Dean! Now you’re making me want a slice. Maybe I’ll have to make one myself this weekend :-)
The only one I have ever seen was in Georgia, Swainsboro to be exact. It was tasty though