Chocolate Little Layer Cake
Part cake and part confection, this heritage recipe for Chocolate Little Layer Cake is made by home cooks throughout southwest Georgia. The cake consists of tiny yellow layers baked individually, then filled and topped with old fashioned boiled chocolate icing.
I really love the way technology connects us. It makes it possible for us to share special recipes like this Chocolate Little Layer Cake beyond our closest circle of friends and family. 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 internet 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 this beautiful tiny layer chocolate cake.
Recipe Quick View
Cuisine: Southern, Vintage
Cooking Method: Oven and Stovetop
Total Time: 1 hour, 50 Minutes
Servings: 24
Primary Ingredient(s): Baking chocolate (see notes), sugar, flour, butter, evaporated milk
Skill Level: Intermediate
A Heritage Recipe
For as long as I can remember, these beautiful multi-layer cakes have been a part of family reunions, church dinners, and most holidays in the southwest corner of Georgia where I grew up. You might 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 boiled chocolate icing while the layers themselves are still warm. Totally goes against the conventional method, doesn’t it?
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 once at a food blogging conference. She’s a very accomplished food writer and has received numerous accolades, including several James Beard Awards.
In her NYT 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 :-)
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.
Way back when, the thin layers for 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 usually get a ten-layer cake. I need to practice more. If you’ve never made this cake before, aim for about seven layers your first time and gradually increase as you improve your technique.
A Modernized Recipe For You
The original recipe that I have for little layer cakes 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 making 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 boiled icing are “Place over low heat until all is dissolved. Do not boil. Be sure all sugar is melted.” Well, alrighty then!
In the recipe below, I’ve tried to re-write and modernize the instructions a bit for you.
What You’ll Like About This Recipe
- It has a unique boiled chocolate icing.
- It tastes great and is pretty easy to make once you get the idea.
- It’s a very old, sentimental part of southern foodways.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING …
“I’m so glad to see this recipe! My aunt … made this cake many times, and it was always a hit and one of my all-time favorite desserts!!”
— Lucy
Ingredient Notes
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- Granulated Sugar – This is just plain old white sugar. We tend to use Dixie Crystals in the south.
- Baking Chocolate – It’s really important to use the right kind of chocolate for this recipe. You’ll need to purchase Baker’s Premium Unsweetened Baking Chocolate, which produces the distinctive look, texture, and taste required for this recipe.
- Evaporated Milk – Be sure you’re buying evaporated milk, NOT sweetened condensed milk.
- Butter – Like most old-fashioned southern cooks, I use salted butter in everything, including this recipe. I can’t remember the last time I purchased unsalted butter.
- Vanilla Extract – Use a quality extract such as McCormick’s.
- Eggs – The fresher, the better.
- Self-Rising Flour – Southerners love our White Lily flour for any type of baking. It’s made from soft winter wheat and produces very tender baked goods.
The complete ingredient list with detailed measurements is included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
You’ll also find this recipe in my cookbook!
You can see this recipe on pages 268-269 of my cookbook, My Southern Table! Get your signed copy today.
How to Make Chocolate Little Layer Cake
Prep the Pans and Ingredients
- Before starting your baking, make sure to have all the ingredients at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and go ahead and prep several 8-inch cake pans with shortening and set them aside.
PRO TIP: 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 disposable cake pans for this, but I don’t see the need. I just wipe the pans out and re-grease between each set of layers.
Make the Icing
Unlike other cakes, you actually start your little layer cake by making the icing first.
- Place a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan 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 the mixture 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 so that no grainy texture remains.
Make the Batter
- 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. Mix in the vanilla.
PRO TIP: The batter will appear to be curdled after each addition of water – this is normal.
Bake the Layers
- Pour approximately 3/4 cup batter into each prepared pan. Smooth the batter to the edges.
- Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until the layers are barely golden on top. Remove from the oven and turn out onto cooling racks.
- Clean the pans, grease them, and repeat baking.
- When the second set of layers goes into the oven, begin icing the first set.
Frost the Layers While Warm
- Place a still-warm layer on a cardboard round set on a cooling rack inside a baking sheet. Spread 1/4 cup of icing on the layer, smoothing it gently to the edges (an offset spatula is great for this job). Top with the next layer and repeat.
PRO TIP: Note that 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 icing the cake. This is why I strongly recommend doing the icing of the cake on a wire rack set inside a baking pan.
- When all the layers have been stacked and iced, spread the remaining icing over the 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.
Variations
- Many cooks around my hometown also make this cake with a caramel icing. I don’t have the original caramel icing recipe, but the version I use for my Southern Caramel Layer Cake should work well.
- I’ve also seen commercial versions of the little layer cake done in coconut, red velvet, and even lemon. I prefer the chocolate and caramel versions.
What to Serve With Chocolate Little Layer Cake
This cake is the perfect dessert for practically any occasion. I’ve served this for Sunday night family dinner, birthday parties, family reunions, and even bridal showers. It’s the perfect ending to a traditional southern meal of country fried steak, old fashioned green beans, fried okra, cornbread, and a fresh cucumber salad!
Storage
Store the cake in a covered container at room temperature for three or four days.
This cake freezes very well. To freeze, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap, followed by a layer of aluminum foil. Place the wrapped cake in a freezer container and freeze for up to three months. Allow the frozen cake to thaw in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
More Popular Cake Recipes
Questions About Chocolate Little Layer Cake
As mentioned in the post, this icing is really thin and runny. It’s not the consistency that you usually think of for icing. The way I handle it is by placing a wire cooling rack inside a baking sheet and setting my layers on that to start. As I add icing, it drips off into the baking sheet. Keep scraping it up and adding it back to the pan. You’ll eventually use all the icing.
There are a few reasons that the icing can turn out grainy. A few tips are to make sure you have all the ingredients at room temperature before you start and to make sure all the sugar is completely dissolved.
The best way I’ve found to keep the layers from shifting is to insert two or three very thin bamboo skewers when you get about halfway up the stack. Keep layering and frosting, and cut your skewers off before you put the last layer on so they don’t show on the outside.
Questions? I’m happy to help!
If you have more questions about the recipe, or if you’ve made it and would like to leave a comment, scroll down to leave your thoughts, questions, and/or rating!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Recipe
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Chocolate Little Layer Cake
Ingredients
- Solid shortening for greasing pans
For the icing:
- 3 cups sugar
- 3 ½ ounces unsweetened baking chocolate see notes
- 10 ounces evaporated milk
- ½ cup butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the layers:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 6 eggs
- 3 ½ cups self-rising flour sifted
- 1 ¾ cups water
- 1 teaspoon 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.
- 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.
Notes
- The specific type of chocolate traditionally used for this recipe is Baker’s Premium Unsweetened Baking Chocolate. This chocolate produces the distinctive look, texture, and taste of this recipe.
- Store your cake in a covered container at room temperature for three or four days.
- To freeze, wrap the cake tightly in plastic wrap followed by a layer of aluminum foil. Place the wrapped cake in a freezer container and freeze for up to three months. Allow the frozen cake to thaw in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
— This post was originally published on April 24, 2012. It has been updated with new photos and additional information.
I just made this and I’m not sure what I did wrong. I was able to get 8 layers but the icing was so runny. It hasn’t hardened at all. I just have a wet cake. I’m so sad 😭
Any tips on cooking this in high altitude? I read many of the comments and did not see any posts about cooking it at high altitude. I at 6000 feet.
Hi Ilene – Sorry I can’t advise you as I don’t bake at high altitude. However, I know that there are many sites on the internet that explain how to alter a recipe for altitude baking. I’m sure you could find the answer through a Google search.
Oh how I miss these cakes. All my family is from south Georgia and someone was always bringing one when we had big get togethers. And there was always some older lady who sold these cakes. I guess it’s my turn to give it a go.
I truly hope you enjoy making a little layer cake. Let’s keep that tradition going!
Will humidity affect the consistency of the icing?
High humidity can affect any cake icing. It can cause the icing to take longer to dry and set up.
how many layers can I get from this recipe? I need 15 layers
As I explained in the post, the number of layers depends on how thin you pour the batter. I usually get ten layers but some people can up to about 14.
Yeah I read that after I sent the question. Thank you for responding back.
Thank you so much for the recipe! my grandma made this and left me her recipe. I was unsuccessful with the bare instructions she gave so I am really grateful for your modernized one. my cakes came out a little rubbery, do you have any suggestions for what I may have done wrong? My cakes pans are nonstick, I wonder if I should adjust the baking directions because of that.
I’m glad I could help you with a more modern interpretation of the recipe! As to rubbery cake layers — that’s usually a result of overmixing the batter.
Can you substitute buttermilk for the water in the batter ? It turned out perfectly, just love buttermilk in cakes and wanted to try.
I’ve never tried this recipe with buttermilk. My intuition is that it might make the layers too tender and they’d have more tendency to fall apart. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes.
I did 3/4 cup buttermilk and 1 cup milk. It was tender and it didn’t crumble. It had the taste I enjoy. It was for a family reunion and I got rave reviews. I might try with all buttermilk when it’s not a special occasion. Thank you so much for this recipe!
I’m so glad it worked out for you!
is the icing supposed to be thin and runny?
Well, in the post I did say this — “👉 PRO TIP: Note that 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 icing the cake. This is why I strongly recommend doing the icing of the cake on a cooling rack set inside a baking pan.”
All I have is 9 inch pans. How much batter would I put in each pan?
I’ve never made this particular cake in 9-inch pans.
Do you have a recipe for a caramel icing to use with the little layer cake? I’ve struggled to make a little layer caramel cake! Thanks!
There is a specific caramel icing that is used for the little layer cakes, but I don’t have that recipe. I’ll try to remember to ask someone that I know who makes them next time I’m back home.
I’m so glad to see this recipe! My aunt (in southeast GA :) ) made this cake many times, and it was always a hit and one of my all-time favorite desserts!!
I will be making this and definitely sharing this wonderful treat to bring back fond family memories!! Thank you!!
Hope you and your family enjoy the cake!
OMG I love this recipe and thank you for it. I made it yesterday and this is to me a true old fashion cake. Most cakes now a days have so many ingredients that’s its crazy and yours has just the right amount. I didn’t have the Bakers chocolate or the self rising flour on hand but I had some off brand chocolate and added salt and baking powder to the apf and it was still good. Thanks again! 😊
Made this recipe exactly how you said. It turned out perfect! It wasn’t as intimidating as I thought it would be.
That’s so great to know, Felicia! Once you give it a try, you see how simple it is.
The sugar will not dissolve completely. Coud I use powdered sugar instead?
I don’t have any experience with substituting powdered sugar in this recipe.
This recipe is very similar to one that my Venezuelan mother-in-law always made for my husband’s birthdays. Thank you.
Thanks for the recipe. I will be trying it this weekend for my son’s 16th birthday. These cakes are made in North Carolina as well and my grandmother made them regularly before she died. He has requested the “the cake that grandma made.”
Hope it turns out great for your son’s birthday!
My icing… the sugar never fully dissolved 🥺 I sat there playing with the temp and never would get to where I needed it. It is 3c sugar in the icing and 1.5 for the cake… or is it the opposite?
Thank you!
Yes, you’re correct. 3 cups for the icing.
This cake is also popular in Southeast Georgia. Thank you for sharing the recipe. My grandma used yellow cake mix, but she made the boiled frosting from scratch. I can’t wait to try it!
Instead of greasing the pans, my grandma always used parchment paper. She would use the cake pans to trace a pattern. She cut out a stack of parchment paper circles before starting on the icing. Then she put a circle of parchment in the bottom of each pan before baking the layers. It made it easy to flip the cake layers out and just peel off the paper.
This cake is also very popular in the Florida panhandle – which is practically lower Alabama! I have a few aunts that make these and bring them to the family reunion. They are like a family tradition.
I lived in Iron City Ga and this cake was made very well by one of the town’s senior lady and my Mom had one made for us every time we came over. Thank you for sharing.
I grew up in Middle Georgia and this cake was always at church dinners,family reunions and Sundays when the preacher came to eat dinner with us. This cake is delicious-one you can savor while you eat and forget about calories and carbs.
Thank you for making the recipe easier and I can’t wait to make it for my family.
Hope you enjoy it!
I’m from South Carolina and my grandma and mama made this cake all the time. We use cocoa powder instead of baking chocolate
My mom was from Jacksonville, Fla but and made this cake often. We lived in the the Atlanta area and in Dublin.
This cake is a favorite in that region, for sure.
My icing is more liquid than I think it should be. It pours on rather than spreads. What am i doing wrong . It’s the 14 layer cake
This is a very runny icing. It doesn’t spread like a conventional icing. You have to keep pouring it back over the cake as I mentioned in the post.
Hi, I’m from Southeastern NC, and this type of cake has been made my by grandmother’s family for generations. She made it slightly different, but the idea is still the same. A few years ago I tried to make this cake. I didn’t have her exact recipe, but it turned out very close to the way hers always did. The number of layers always depended on how she was feeling, and the reason for the cake. She could get up to 19 layers!
I also am from the southeastern part of North Carolina.
My mother use to bake this thin layer cake every Christmas.
It is one of my most fond memories of the holidays.
Great recipe.
Hey Miss Lana! Laura used to be my good friend, and I spent the night with you several times growing up! How neat that I found you by this cake recipe! My daughter (age 13) has made a little business selling old fashioned 14 layer chocolate cakes like this, and I was online trying to find tips for keeping the layers from sliding around during the icing process. Do you have any tips?
Hi Shanna! Good to hear from you!! I think it’s great that your daughter is making a business out of these little layer cakes. They’ve always been a big part of the foodways in south Georgia.
About keeping the layers from shifting — the best way I’ve found is to insert two or three very thin bamboo skewers when you get about half way up the stack. Keep layering and frosting and cut your skewers off before you put the last layer on so they don’t show on the outside.
Hope that helps!
This cake is a staple of church gatherings & town meetings in our little hometown of Pelion, SC. There are few and far between who can really master this delicious cake. Thank you for sharing your version & tips to go along with it.
My pleasure, Katie.
My great aunt made this cake but her recipe is A little different. For one thing she used buttermilk instead of water. Her daughter upgraded her recipe. I have used both. We live in NC.
Do you have the recipe for the caramel version of this cake?
We live in the Central Savannah River Area of Georgia, and these cakes are very popular. There is also a lemon version we call lemon cheese, even though there is no cheese in it!
I make the Lemon Cheese Cake, too Amanda, but not with the little layers. It’s delicious!
I’m going to try this recipe. I grew up in Albany, GA and my grandmother would make this frequently. I live in Iowa now, but last summer I visited family in Alabama, and we had this! It’s one of my favorite cakes!!
I lived in Albany for 22 years – grew up in a little town just south of there. Small world!
I’ve made 18 thin layer chocolate cakes for years. I’m right beside you guys in Sylvester GA born, raised and growing old.😀
I’m from Southeast Louisiana and have been making this cake for 20+ years. In my family, the 14 LAYER cake originates from my granny in North Alabama :)
Yes, it’s pretty much all throughout the southeastern states. Everybody knows and loves little layer cakes!
I was just googling an alternate icing recipe for my little layer cake because mine calls for cocoa powder and I’m out. To answer your question about the origins of the cake, this cake was a staple of my childhood! Little old ladies would make it and bring it to cover-dish meals. I lived all over the eastern half of North Carolina, and this cake turned up wherever I lived. Definitely not just a small part of GA!
Yes, they’re available all over my home area, too. And always delicious!!
We lived in Statesboro, GA for several years and these cakes were a staple! I wish I could find a caramel recipe as well!
Do you have the recipe for the caramel version of this cake?
Hi Donna. You’d use the same recipe for the layers and your favorite caramel icing recipe.
I made my first 14 layer cake today. It turned out so pretty. The recipe was close to mine but I used whole milk instead of water. I found that Bakers Joy is a handy spray for this cake. I cool the cake for a minute then flip the cake on my hand and then I place on stack and ice. This is not a difficult cake to do. Just need patience.
I’m glad to know your cake turned out pretty, Shirley! As you said, it just takes patience.
Just after i married my husband 26 years ago, his Nana decided to turn this recipe over to me. She taught me this cake wigh a few differences. I have made it for every christmas since. They are from the Columbus, GA area.
It just wouldn’t be Christmas without this cake!
The cake is delicious and have made it numerous times. I have question about the icing. Sometimes it will become ‘crinchy’. The recipe I use calls for boiling the icing for 2 minutes whereas your recipe says not to let it boil. Would boiling cause the icing to be grainy?
Sheryl in SC
Lots of things can make an icing grainy. It’s hard to say what happened without being there, but some tips are to make sure you have all your ingredients at room temperature before you start and to make sure all the sugar is completely dissolved.
Thomas County Ga area and this is a staple along with Milky Way pound cake at all of our family holidays for as long as I can remember! Our great grandmother(I’m sure her mother and grandmother were but I wasn’t alive for that) started making it and now the great grand daughters take turns each year!! Carmel cakes are also VERY popular during the holidays here!
I don’t think we could have Christmas without this cake and a caramel cake, too!
My grandmother taught us to make this cake and we have it for most holidays. She also made a Lane Cake every Christmas, which was my Grandfathers favorite. His birthday was Christmas Day, so that was his request for his birthday. I never mastered the Lane Cake. We live in the Florida Panhandle.
I love Lane Cake, too. I should post that one soon!
I grew up in Robeson County in North Carolina and this was a Christmas staple.
In my hometown, too, Kathy. This one and the caramel ones as well.
I’ m in the Dothan, Alabama area and this type of cake is a much-prized thing in the Wiregrass area of southeast Alabama, southwest Georgia and northwest Florida. I plan to master this technique for the holidays this year. This type of cake is a treasured part of our heritage. I’m also going to try this technique with “lemon cheese” filling 😋
I’m from the same area as you, Leah – southwest Georgia. We always had these cakes in chocolate and caramel. I’ve never tried one with lemon cheese, but I bet it would be delicious!
Lana…. I have made your recipe a couple of times and it turns out perfect every single time. Thank you so much! We are from Dothan and Bonifay 😉 Question for you — one of our grandmothers used to make this cake alternating with peanut butter icing layers. Do you happen to have a variation for that?
Thanks and happiest of holidays to you! Thank you for sharing the recipe! We are happy to have found it a few years ago!
Wow, Cindy, that sounds delicious! This is the first time I’ve ever heard of it so, unfortunately, I don’t have a recipe for it. If you find one, do let me know!
My grandmother always made a 5 layer, however, after a funeral yesterday I had this 7 layer. I was so intrigued and glad to find your ariticle. It was amazing and could certainly tell it was homeade.
Thanks for the recipe !!! I live in S. Carolina !
You’re welcome! Hope you enjoy making one for yourself.
Hi! I made this one day in advance. Do I need to fridge it overnight or is an air tight container at room temp okay?
You can safely store it covered in an airtight container at room temperature.
My Grandmother also made this cake quite often. I have never made the cake myself but intend to real soon. She was originally from Alabama but lived in Florida most of her life. I do remember her making an orange cake using the same layers. Thanks for the recipe, it definitely brought back some wonderful memories.
That’s the first time I’ve heard of a little layer orange cake! Very interesting. I’ll bet it’s delicious :-)
I live in a small town in middle Georgia. My Mawmaw always made many 10-14 layer little layer chocolate cakes during the holidays for the family and she also sold the for a little extra money. She made coconut and orange slice too. I’m very fortunate to have cooked in the kitchen with her as a child and now I make them for the family during the holidays. Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome, Sharon!
Are the coconut and orange slice cakes little layer cakes? Could you share the recipes?
Hi. I’m not sure which cakes you’re asking about, but I’ve never seen a little layer cake that was coconut or orange. Only chocolate and caramel.
I’ve made this cake as a birthday cake a few times from recipes/instructions given by my Atlanta-born husband’s relatives, but never have felt comfortable with the process since I did not grow up with this type of cake in Texas. Thanks to your recipe and detailed instructions, now I can prepare this cake with confidence. Got ten layers and am thrilled! I might even be brave enough to make it more than once a year!
Once it’s presented for his special day, I’ll post a pic on IG with your #
Thank you again!!! :D
So glad I could be of help, Cathy! I can’t wait to see the photo of your finished cake :-)
This sounds really great and fun to try. This seems to make a 10 layer cake so just keep baking with as many 8 inch pans you have? How many were you able to bake at a time?
People who are very experienced at making this recipe can get up to 14 layers from the batter. As you can see in the photo, I got ten on this attempt. You don’t need 10 pans, however, you just wipe the pans out and re-grease between baking each set of layers.
Words cannot express how excited I am to find this recipe! (And your blog!)
My Grandmother’s chocolate layer cake was a staple at every family get together, every holiday get together, and every church meal for as long as I can remember! She never measured ingredients and never used a written recipe, but every cake turned out perfectly delicious!! I watched her many times and tried to learn how to make this cake, but could not remember what she added to the Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate! THANK YOU SO MUCH for this post!!
To reply to your question about location, we are from right outside of Charlotte, NC in Belmont, NC. My grandmother was a native of Belmont. Her thin layer cakes were very well loved and often requested!! She used the same thin layers for her coconut cake, and also a confectioners’ sugar glazed – banana cake!
Thank you again!!
I’m so happy that I could be of help in restoring an old family recipe for you, Jayne. I’ve found out, too, that this cake is made all over the southeast — Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina — just about everywhere!
I made your cake today and it was delicious! My mother-in-law made a cake like this but added pecans in the frosting. I did 7 layers with pecans. It wasn’t as pretty as yours but it we are all enjoying it. I was born and raised in Charleston SC . Thank you!
I’m so glad it turned out good for you, Connie!
You asked if this were localized to the Alabama-Georgia line area. The answer is no. I am from the Raleigh, NC area and my grandmother (who was from rural Johnston and Harnett counties in North Carolina) made this cake when I was growing up. I miss it dearly and am exceedingly happy to have found the recipe.
Cheers!
Glad you found the recipe, Craig, and hope you enjoy the cake. Yes, it’s quite widespread throughout the southeast.
Thank you for posting this recipe. This looks exactly like my Grandma’s “Granny Britt” cake. She was from Goldsboro, NC.
the texture was tough and did not have much flavor. I won’t use this recipe again to make this type of cake.
Hi,
When I tried to make this cake my layers started to look like a dome. HELP!
It’s so hard to say what went wrong without being in the kitchen watching how you make the recipe, but my best guess would be that you used too much batter for the individual layers. I’ve never had them turn out any way other than flat or maybe with a very slight rise in the center. If you try again and the same thing happens, maybe try stacking them alternating with the bottom up and the top down every other layer to try to even it out.
The seven layer cakes my mother and grandmother before her made were jelly cakes. We live in Kansas and the jelly used is Sand Plum Jelly…..I am 83 and have been making this seven layer jelly cake for my daughter’s birthday for 60 years now.
My mother made this. She was originally from Hoboken- Jesup. Strangely enough, a bakery called Cakes, Cakes, Cakes opened in the 80’s next door to the Castle Park Harvey’s and they featured this cake.
It’s one of the oldest recipes on my blog. The original recipe was just a few lines – no real instructions. I do hope I’ve done it justice in this post.
My mammo used to make this cake, and I have tried, all of my adult life, to replicate it. I am going to try this recipe, to see if it comes close. It is the icing that gives me trouble. I don’t know if I cook it too long, or not long enough, but I can never get it to come out with the perfect glaze-like consistency that hers had. Thanks for posting this.
Yes, that icing can be tricky! Hope you have good luck with this recipe.
I have a similar recipe. I have milk in the batter. I cook mine in an iron skillet in my oven. It is so good. I’m lucky to have 2 ovens and 4 skillets. So I get 4 cooked at the time.
The recipe for these cakes are scary. But once you’ve tried it. You’ll hope for excuses to bake this.
Hi Lana! I am originally from southeast Alabama and grew up with both the kinds! Do you happen to know how to make the caramel icing??? I have tried many recipes, and none taste quite right! Thanks!
Hi Laurie – No, I don’t have the caramel icing recipe. Sorry!
My Grandmother -1896 birthday- had a hardcover blue cookbook that was published 1898 or 1899, we cannot recall exact year nor who published it. Her mother and her 8 older sisters had really used it. It was coming apart when we cleaned out her home after her death in the 1980s. One of my sisters took the book. There was a recipe for a cake like this, I saw it on her dining table enough to remember it. She entertained mostly women’s groups related to church. When I was 8-9 she told me, “ it’s a lot of trouble”, with her fun smile. She loved to share her big farmhouse for women’s gatherings and was a really good cook and baker, most all food from their farm/ranch. This was all in NORTH TEXAS!
My grandmother made this cake, just seeing yours brings back sweet memories. She was born in 1920 and grew up in Baker County, GA but lived in Albany, GA as an adult. She didn’t split the layers like some do but made them thin like yours.
My grandma who raised me grew up making this cake religiously. I now make it as well:) She grew up deep in the Florida panhandle. It was a normal thing for people to make for funerals, birthdays, Christmas, whenever. There is a trick with this cake that she always told me..it can’t be rainy or looking like rain that day..the icing won’t set right;) It’ll taste good always though;))
My Grandmother & her sisters and my Greatgrandmother all made these while they were alive. I miss then & the wonderful Caremel and Chocolate Cakes that appeared for every holiday. Jesup & Savannah, Georgia
Lana do you have a cookbook with this choc. receipes in it
Thanks
Shirley
Hi Shirley – Thanks for asking. But, no, I don’t have a cookbook. Maybe one of these days!
I have had these numerous times. (and made a few times) My husbands family is from Moultrie GA, where we would have them. I am curious, my aunt-in-law says there is one flavor of that type of cake called ‘lemon cheese’, I’ve had it before but would love to make one, but do not know how. Do you know what I am meaning? Any direction would be appreciated.
Hi Treena – Yes, lemon cheese is the same thing as lemon curd. My mother makes a wonderful lemon cheese cake. It has the normal size layers with the lemon cheese (curd) as filling and a white seven-minute frosting. You could easily make that into a little layer cake, but I like it the traditional way.
Thank you a ton! I will keep you posted on how it turns out (when I can syke myself up to make one, they are a lot of work!!) ❤️
I’ve made this cake several times and it always turns out creamy, not hard/crunchy. I usually make my layers ahead of time and freeze them, because I have to make so many at one time. Recently, I cooked the icing, put it on the layers while the layers were still cold. After it set, the icing became crystallized. Any idea why? I can’t figure this out. I let the sugars melt. Oh, and does anybody know why you can’t let the icing boil? I never do, but was just curious as to why.
Hi my name is Janice. I am from Opelika, AL. Both of my grandmothers, my mother and many of my aunts were great bakers. I have made many cakes and love how each one is so unique. Your cake recipe intriges me. I have always made my cakes using buttermilk. I have never made a cake using water as the only liquid. I am curious as to the reason for this.
Hi Lana, I decided to give your chocolate layer cake a try. I made it exactly like your recipe. The cake turned out great. I am thinking the recipe used water instead of buttermilk so the layers would not rise too much in the middle. As for the icing, I did not have any bakers chocolate bars so I used Hershey’s Cocoa powder instead. I did not know the conversion amount so I guesstimated. My icing’s consistency was creamy and thicked up nicely as it cooled. I think I put a little too much cocoa powder because the icing has a dark chocolate flavor. Overall, I was very pleased with the recipe and will be using it again.
Hey from South Carolina! I am about to attempt to make this awesome cake for my youngest sons 11th birthday! My Great-Grandma always made this cake for our family reunions! She was from Princeton, South Carolina, which is in the upstate of SC, kinda near Greenville! Best cake I’ve ever had, and I can still remember us making sure we got a slice of “Lil Grandmas” chocolate cake! We even call the icing “Lil Grandmas Icing”! ?
My grandmother made these. She lived in Cochran Georgia. Church dinners, family reunions, and Christmas. My favorite cake.
If you showed up to a Church dinner with a “store bought cake” you were shunned from the church,
Grandma once gave my wife and I a cake to take home to Panama city. The cake did not make it there.
My husband cousin lives in Cochran. Carol Sykes.
My grandmother made a tiny layer cake for me years ago. We are natives of Savannah, Georgia. She said then her aunt had passed the recipe on to her.
My husband and I were born and raised in Augusta ga. Actually Martinez ga. Anyway his grandmother use to make these cakes we thought it was an old family recipe that only his grandmother made we lost our recipe so i googled it and found this sight and a few others so maybe it’s a Southern thang Lolol!
Hi, l live in Australia and l have been making layer cakes ‘tortes’ for a while. Like the Hungarian Dobos Torte or drumbeat cake. I’m going to have a go at this cake, it looks very nice…..l will let you know how l go. Could you tell me approx how much chocolate you have used please, preferably in grams but oz will do. Cheers Edith
Hi Edith – it’s 3.5 ounces of unsweetened baking chocolate. Here’s a link to the specific product: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/products/bakers-unsweetened-chocolate-ba-87.aspx
I grew up in a small town in southwest Georgia. We had these ineither caramel or chocolate for very special occasions. Or from the auction. There were a few ladies in town who made them, but we always got ours from Mrs. Rose. I am going to try your recipe and take my first shot at a layer cake (well more than 3) for my dad’s 60th birthday. Thanks for sharing!
I’m from a small town in southwest Georgia, too! Small world, isn’t it? I hope your cake turns out good.
Anywhere close to Camilla?
Fairly close – Colquitt in Miller County.
How much chocolate are you referring to when you say “block”?
Unsweetened baking chocolate comes in 1 oz. blocks, so that would 3.5 ounces. Here’s a link to the correct product: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/products/bakers-unsweetened-chocolate-ba-87.aspx
Not to far from me, I’m in Baconton!
I decided to attempt one of these cakes and was looking for a recipe. I discarded one after the next b/c I didn’t trust them (I’m sure they were perfectly fine but I couldn’t bring myself to sacrifice the time, money, and energy on just any recipe). And then I saw your’s…When you said you grew up in a rural southwest Georgia town I knew I had found the right recipe. It’s funny to me how quickly I was like “yep, this is the one!”
I grew up in Arlington. When I was a little girl my grandmother and granddaddy had Sunday afternoon “Coffees”. My aunts would make caramel cakes like this (one of which did make them and sell them!) She also made a fluffy, white coconut cake. My granddaddy (and my daddy) was a peanut farmer and there was always roasting peanuts in the oven and he would make peanut brittle right on the counter-top.
Such sweet memories of simple times. I think that’s why I “trusted” your recipe. I was reminded of a time when all was right in the (my) world and the hardest decision I had to make was which dessert I was going to eat and which cousin I was going to play with.
Thank you for sharing. We’ll see how my cake turns out.
I really hope the cake turns out great for you! I’d love to know how you like it.
I had never seen this cake until I went to a local store and bought a piece for my husband.
He loved it! Now I’m looking to make my own. Thank you for sharing the recipe, I’ll probably use butter instead of shortening. It’s healthier, I think.
I am from southeast GA (Statesboro, GA) and my great-grandmother was almost famous for her 14 layer chocolate and caramel cakes. Before she passed, the one thing I requested were her cast iron pans that she used to make these cakes with. Her recipe, and the one I still use, is very different from this one. I bake the layers at 500 degrees and can make 2 cakes in an hour once I get started. I actually made a chocolate one yesterday and I had forgotten how much I love that smell! According to my grandmother, if the moon is “on the rise” you can easily get 15 or 16 layers. Thanks for posting!
I live in southwest GA (Albany, GA). My mother loved sweets, and this cake was one of her favorites. She recently passed away, so the cake baking baton has been passed along. I tried her “little layer cake” recipe for the first time in all of my 50 years yesterday. It turned out a little messy, but my friend said it tasted really good. I don’t know where the recipe originated (Alabama or Maryland — maybe neither), but it doesn’t matter to me, because it has been a part of at least 3 generations in my Georgia family and no doubt predates my grandmother who was from middle GA (farm country) and 88 when she died at the turn of this century.
This cake is in my recipe box. Some of the
words have been changed around a bit, but
it is the same recipe. This cake recipe was
on the old Hershey Cocoa cans. I am 66 years old & this recipe was in my mother’s
recipe box on the original wrapper of the cocoa can. It is a brown label & recipe is printed in silver. A delicious cake. My mother made this cake when I was a child.
My mother used to make a 14-layer chocolate cake. (I have her recipe). She actually spread the batter on the back of the cake pans so she would have thin layers. I have her recipe. I recently sold a 6-layer caramel cake for $45. It took all day to complete!!!! As they used to say, “a lot of sugar for a dime”, haa
Watkinsville, Georgia. ..outside of Athens. Ladies at my church would make this. I have had it in both chocolate and caramel. Judy Giles made the best ones…she was amazing!!!
i am from duraham nc and grew up eating these.they were at church functions,family gatherings etc.but the best ones were made by my uncle.he owned a bakery in norfolk va.and brought us one of these wonderful cakes when he came to visit.
I’m from East TN but moved to NC where this cake has turned up at church functions. I found out it is made by one of the oldest members of our congregation. She was talking about making this cake the other day after church. Since she brought it up, I had the opportunity to ask if she had any tricks to it. She said well, she had to work fast. For each layer she uses 1/3 c. batter and they don’t bake long. She also said it was important to ice them while the layers were still warm. Since you commented on the layers not making as many as you wanted, I figured I’d share. I’ve been trying to decide what to make for a dessert for Christmas and have decided to commit to this cake since I’ve thought about it before and been hesitant. Maybe it won’t be too hard. Have you ever made the caramel version? I have had highs and lows with caramel frosting so I’d be curious to see if anyone has tips on how to keep the consistency for making this one in caramel.
I grew up in Middle Georgia and always spent Christmas at my grandmother’s or aunt’s in Marietta. We ALWAYS had this cake! For years my mother also made it for my birthday. I haven’t had it since she died 6 years ago, and I’ve really wanted it. My new MIL asked me to make a chocolate cake this year for Christmas, so I’m going to attempt this one! I haven’t had time to go to my dad’s and find my mother’s recipe.
Hope you enjoy the cake, Julie!
I’m from coastal SC and this cake has been a staple in my family for years. My mama used to make these when I was a kid. I know a number of people who have made layer cakes with these thin layers (usually 12-18) for years.
My great-grandmother always made a seven layer yellow cake with caramel icing. She was from rural south-west South Carolina. She would even keep a set of layers in the freezer, so if company dropped by unexpectedly she was ready; she would set them all out (didn’t take long to thaw), whip up some icing, and before you’d know it there was a beautiful cake to enjoy along with the visit. Hers always looked so neat and perfect — unlike my previous attempts with caramel icing! Great memories.
I have seen many variations of these cakes at church potlucks and social gatherings throughout South Carolina and east-central Georgia; I have always thought of them as regional Southern recipes, certainly not restricted to only two small towns. I have not encountered them anywhere outside of the South.
I am from SC and am 52.5 years old-ha. My Parents, Grandparents, Great and Great Great Grandparents all resided in SC. These cakes have been a part of my life since I can remember as a little girl. I continue the tradition of making them. They aren’t easy, but they are worth it!! Each one turns out different in shape, but the taste is always the same! You won’t turn into Patti Labelle with a taste of it, but dang it is love, comfort and goodness in your moth! P.S. I am not a pie girl. Cake for the win!
Mouth too! Lol
Hi Lana,
I named my first born Lana.
We are from Waterproof, Louisiana, a small town in Northeast Louisiana.
My dad’s mom always made this cake for repasses, church socials, family reunions, and holidays. It was always a hit.
I have never known anyone else around here to make it. She always did fourteen layers. I was always in awe of this cake as I was coming up.
Now that she is no longer with us I have decided to carry on the tradition for her. I hope I do her memory justice.
I’d love to know how the recipe works out for you!
My Grandmother used to make this chocolate thin layer cake in her skillet on the stove top with very thin layers. It was always so good. She was a great cook and baker. She lived in Nashville Georgia.That is in Georgia.
Hi, Rosemary…. I’m from Sampson County near Dunn. Sherri’s Bakery in Dunn makes the cakes, and Burney’s Bakery in Elizabethtown and Southport makes both chocolate and a caramel frosting in 15 layers. I read a NewYork Times article years ago statin that they were particulate to Alabama and just had to correct them! I have a coworker from Baltimore who calls them Smith Island cakes because they are popular in a region of Maryland.
Yes! My Aunt Cleo in South Alabama always made these for family reunions. It was always my favorite item on the dessert table! I was specifically looking for a how-to like this so I could re-create it. Thank you so much!
Thanks SO MUCH for posting this recipe! I had one of these cakes years ago at a family reunion in Dasher, GA (near Valdosta), and apparently it was an old family tradition. That part of Georgia/North Florida is full of descendants of the Salzburgers, several waves of immigrants from Germany and Austria who came over starting in the mid-1700s. This cake seems very much like a Germanic torte; I can totally imagine that it came from that ancestry!
I got a copy of the recipe at the reunion and have since lost it, so I’m delighted to see this. Thanks!
I have had this in eastern side of the Tallahassee, Florida region. My daughter-in-law makes this at the holidays, but her layers are 1/2 or less the thickness of what yours shows and is about 13-15 layers to make a standard height cake. Hers is the hit of every family get together it is like eating yellow cake soaked in chocolate syrup. It is Heavenly.
OMG! My late grandmother, who would be in her 100’s, used to make these. It was her “go to” cake. She lived her entire life in No. Florida near the Georgia line. The only difference is that she baked her layers on the stovetop on a cast iron griddle. I don’t know how she managed to keep the size of the layers consistent but she did!
Can you make this cake with buttermilk instead of water?
I’ve never tried that, Melissa. My guess is that the buttermilk would make the layers too tender and they’re probably fall apart. If you try it, let me know how it works out.
He said this was what he remembered. I made extra frosting and he made sure it all went on.
My husband is from Cairo and before I met him I had never heard of this cake. He talks about his grandmother making it, I grew up in NE GA just above Athens. I hope this recipe is like hers was, because after 22 yrs there is nothing I can think of to get him for Valentines Day that would be more special.
Patricia – this is indeed the classic recipe. I’d love to hear how your husband likes it!!
I can’t thank you enough for sharing this recipe! My grandmother, from Savannah, GA used to make this cake all the time. It was a family favorite AND brought in quite a bit of money for her since she would bake, sell and deliver cakes year-round. We could never get her to write down the recipe (she only had a third-grade education) and somehow we never managed to be with her when she baked. She loved to have everything done ahead of time so that we could just “visit.” I made this for my son’s 24th birthday yesterday. All plates were practically licked clean! I’m visiting my parents in GA this coming week and plan to bake one for them. It’s probably been a good 25 years since they’ve had one and I wonder how it will hold up against the memory! Thank you again for taking the time to share!
Lana, I was so thrilled to find your blog with this recipe! My parents are both from southeast Alabama, my mother from Dothan and my father from the Clio-Louisville area. My paternal grandmother and my mother’s sister made these cakes for every special occasion, both chocolate and caramel.
Caramel was my favorite. Could you post a recipe for that?
My son, who will be 50 years old tomorrow, has been asking me to make one “like Aunt Pearl used to make” for years, and I’ve just now managed to find your recipe. I’m going to surprise him with one this weekend. Can’t wait to see his reaction!
Actually, I think it’s the directions that will help most – I’ve baked for local restaurants for years, but just made regular 3 or 4 layers. I’m looking forward to this special creation.
I Love this cake I m from Germany my friends Mom USed to make this cake only on Birthdays because she say it is to much work she used a spring form cake pan and baked each layer by it,s self we call the cake Prinzregenten Torte
I love baking my son homemade birthday cakes every year. One year it wasn’t about how the cake tasted at all it just had to resemble “It’s a Small World” from Disney. But this cake looks great and delicious. I would like to know if it’s possible to put strawberry frosting between layers as well.
Thank You,
Laura
I’ve never tried this cake with strawberry frosting, Laura. Sorry, I can’t say.
weird question, does the icing harden? I had a woman make this cake for us and her icing was amazing! I haven’t had a layer cake like it since!
The icing does form something like a crust on the outside but it doesn’t completely harden throughout.
Hi! I just came across this recipe and going for my first attempt tomorrow night. In my hometown, you weren’t “nobody” if you didn’t know the lady that made the best “chocolate thin layer cake”. The cake lady in Ocilla, Georgia we knew well was Ms. Tankersley and the cakes were awesome! They were gave as very welcomed gifts and receiving one was a honor. I’m pretty sure she did caramel too, but the chocolate was most popular. She only offered these two cakes and people bought at least two during the holidays. Sounds like a great side business!
I’m really not sure if Ms. Tankersley still has her cake business but I’m sure my Nanny still has a favorite cake lady she calls during the holidays. Over the past few years there has been a bakery In Tifton, Georgia; that could just as well be a “cake lady” because I’ve never heard anyone mention the name of a bakery. Sometimes people in South Georgia can get secretive about who their “cake lady” is. Cake business can get serious to folks. Whomever it may be though does many different types of this type cake and are all to die for! Doing the traditional chocolate, red velvet, key lime, and German chocolate; that I’ve saw at different gatherings the past few years. Simply amazing cakes.
I’ve been trying to decide which cake I could use as my “side job” during the holidays this year and I think I’ve narrowed it down to this cake. It’s a classic cake with a pretty simple recipe, and I think the people in the area I now call home will fall in love with too. I guess I’ll have to wait and see how it turns out tomorrow night.
Thanks for the recipe!
-Robin
Hope it turned out good for you, Robin! I’d love to know.
Hello,
Thank you for posting this recipe. I live in Wilmington,NC and travel a great deal all over NC. I have found this cake in many a traditional BBQ restaurant all over NC, sold by the slice. There are many small local bakeries and ladies that still make it today and it is at every family gathering. The grocery chain Piggly Wiggly in SE NC usually has a homemade version available by the slice daily and the cake can be ordered ahead. Some of the stores use box mix and frosting and some make homemade (Warsaw and Wallace NC are good). They also can be found in the grocery’s freezer section and thaw beautifully. Thank you for posting and accepting comments. I love your site.
Katharine, I live in your region. Burney’s Bakery in Elizabethtown and Southport sells both chocolate and caramel 12-layers. The caramel is just as good as the chocolate and as good as homemade!
The cake looks fantastic! Can’t wait to try it :) . I also live in a small town in Eastern NC, very close to the SC border. These cakes are made by many older ladies in town, but aren’t as common as they were when I was a child.I don’t think I have ever seen a caramel one around here though, only the chocolate and they usually have anywhere from 7-11 layers.
This cake is beyond wonderful! I would like o make a couple now for Christmas, will they freeze nicely? Thanks!
You can freeze it if you allow the icing to set until quite firm after your frost the cake and then wrap the cake very well. Allow it to thaw in the refrigerator or in a very cool place for a couple of days before serving.
My grandmother made a lemon cake like this every time we visited her in Mississippi and it is now being made in Arkansas and Texas. The recipe was given to her by an older aunt. I know they were making it in Marengo Co., Alabama before 1900. It is a family favorite. I used to call her when I started making the batter and again when making the icing. Wish I could still do that! I have her recipe and spoon in a shadow box on my study wall. I have to look at it every time I make THE CAKE. My children have fond memories of my grandmother’s cake and other cooking. I agree that from scratch cakes are better than mixes. Thank you for this article; based on it, I may have to adjust a couple of my methods. Like making the icing first.
My family from north and middle Georgia had them all my life and I am 65 years old. Not just a cake for a small area. A real treat!!!
I am from eastern South Carolina and grew up with my grandma, Mom, aunts and many members of the community where they grew up making these cakes. They used cocoa instead of chocolate blocks. I have seen layers so thin and cakes up to 20+ layers. This is my favorite cake.
Omg I have been trying to find one for a long time and I would really like one especially that I am 8 months pregnant and have a craving for it. Unfortunately I’m not that much of a great baker so if you know anyone willing to deliver please let me know.
Lana, I live in the Pee Dee area of South Carolina and this cake is one cake that is highly sort after during the holidays. I knew a lady that made them for me but she is sick and does not cook anymore. Thanks for sharing your recipe. I will be attempting to make one myself for Thanksgiving.
This cake is an old favorite of mine that my grandmother use to make. My son always request this cake on his birthdays every year! This cake is still very popular in South Carolina.
I made this for my oldest daughter’s wedding….the final outside layer was cream cheese frosting…..what a huge cake…a heavy cake…and not a single crumb left !
Thank you so much for this recipe Lana!
I live, and grew up, in Northwest Florida. This cake is one we would only have at family reunions in Andalusia, AL – where my mother’s family is from. My husband is from Sylvania, GA and his grandmother made this cake all the time and it was his favorite. Since we didn’t know anyone who had the recipe, on either side of the family, I went looking and yours was the only one that truly reminded us of those cakes.
Since I’m not a baker I used a box cake mix (sorry folks) for this first attempt. I figure if I get the frosting right then I will make both the cake and the frosting next go around….
I have just finished and I am so excited! To me, the frosting tastes exactly like I remember! This is for my husband’s birthday tonight so I haven’t cut it yet.
One tip – I had the frosting on Low – I mean the lowest possible setting. All was great then I glance over and it is boiling! Just a bit, on one side, so I yanked it off the heat, grabbed my whisk and started beating it – not the way you do to incorporate air but just to thoroughly blend it. I think I saved it from being too grainy….whew. So if this happens to you – don’t give up on it, you might can save it.
Sandy – thank you so much for your very kind comment. Nothing makes me happier than when one of my recipes brings back fond memories for someone, except…when a reader take the time to comment and let me know that they enjoyed it! Hope your husband enjoys the cake!!
My mother, Lizzie Whatley, always made these cakes at Christmas time. She would make one each for all 7 children, and 1/2 each for the grown grandchildren. Hers had a unique taste, which I have been unable to capture, and it was in the frosting. If anyone out there knows what I am talking about, I would love to hear from you. We grew up and lived in the lower Alabama area near Dothan, AL. I have been told a lady in Georgia bakes the cake and it has the same taste. I wish I knew who, because I would give my eye teeth to get the recipe.
We live in Dry Branch, GA and my grandmother used to make these layer cakes in the cast iron skillet sometimes on top of the stove, sometimes baked in the oven in the skillet. But she used cocoa powder and cooked the icing on the stove. When she iced the layers she would use a fork and poke holes in the top of the cake to allow the icing to run in. Delicious.
Question: I have made this several times now and I LOVE IT! It is by far the best 10 layer chocolate cake recipe I have made, but it always looks lopsided, who can I make it look even and pretty? I feel like it is because I put one warm layer onto another and they just naturally slide. Any advice? Thanks and thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Caroline – If the layers are uneven, make sure you even out your batter in the pans before you put them in the oven and also make sure your oven/stove is sitting level! You can also try inserting a toothpick or two every 3 or 4 layers to hold it in place.
It’s interesting to see how many people bake this type of cake or know someone who does. I’m a lifelong Marylander and Smith Island is the first place I ever heard of these cakes. I’ve not had the joy of actually getting to eat one and now that I HAVE to live gluten-free (trust me, this is NOT by choice but by medical necessity), I’m going to have to wait until either myself or someone else “de-glutenfies” it (is that a word?). I personally think Ms. Severson was referring to MANY MANY years ago, perhaps even the late 19th century and early 20th century in which the cakes were only made on Smith Island and the Alabama area. (Wouldn’t it be interesting to discover how these two areas, so far apart, at least a 100 years ago, had this particular style? I wouldn’t be surprised if a young bride moved from one location to the other and took the tradition with her, that how this sort of thing happened pre-modern technology.)
But, it IS interesting to see how far and wide the cakes have grown. The online retailer Kitchen Krafts has a cake divider system which makes NUMEROUS layers that I’ve been wanting to buy. I wonder if that’s considered cheating to get lots of layers? Or, does it make a flavor difference to bake such thin small layers? Is it along the same concept of pancakes versus waffles that taste differently despite coming from the same batter? Food for thought anyway! (no pun intended there) However, for some reason, no matter WHAT I do, even using Wilton’s cake levelers, etc., I can NOT seem to get even, nice layers when I try to divide normal cake layers. Has anyone used one of those multiple layering sets? They’re not cheap which is why I haven’t purchased it yet. Perhaps I’ll just try baking the small thin layers. Lana, you tickle me with your comment of seeing just how many layers you can get from your batter. I had a great Aunt Zelda who was the baker in the family during her life. She was youngest of 3 sisters and each sister was excellent at one “female” skill. The oldest (my grandmother) was an amazing seamestress and quilter, anything with a needle, the middle one, fashion and entertaining and the youngest, she loved baking but don’t ask her to do any of the other stuff. She also had a bit of obsessive compulsiveness in her (actually all 3 of them did) and would count EVERY cookie she baked. It was a challenge to herself to see just how many sandtart cookies she could get out of each batch of cookie batter. The difference was determined by how thin you could roll the cookies. They’re best when you can almost see through them.
I’ve been baking these for years in S.C. My recipe came from the local newspaper and like you mentioned – only the ingredients & no directions. Most layers I ever got was 15. This is our Christmas & Birthday cake. Would love to have the caramel icing recipe you wrote about. Just found your blog – it’s a joy to read. Thank you for sharing.
North Carolina ladies make the “Thin Layer Chocolate Cake” with 12-14 very thin layers.
Thank you for the directions. I made these as a child with my grandmother all the time. Her entire family was from the Columbia, SC area. She was born in 1912.
Hi! I can’t wait to try this recipe! But I haven’t used baking chocolate much, when you say 3 1/2 blocks is that the smaller blocks that the break into, or 3 1/2 bars?
Thanks for your help! :)
Danielle – you need to purchase one package unsweetened baker’s chocolate. The package will contain several blocks. You’ll use 3 1/2 of the individual blocks. Here’s a link so you’ll know what you’re looking for in the grocery store. http://www.kraftrecipes.com/Products/ProductInfoDisplay.aspx?SiteId=1&Product=4300025010
I’m from south eastern North Carolina & North Eastern South Carolona. Lived on the border actually. I grew up eating these cakes. My mother made then all the time. Some times in a hoe cake iron skillet ,(and I bet most people don’t know what hoe cake is), some times in the oven. She made everything from scratch and the cooked icing. WOW. I don’t like canned or ready made icing to this day. I don’t remember her ever measuring anything. And yea she would make and sell cakes at Christmas. You could even find individually wrapped pieces of this cake in local conveinant stores for sale. This cake is all is all over the South East so no one area can put claim to it.
Lana, I’m from Tifton and make this cake for my son’s birthday and other times when I have two hours to spare. I once threw away batter when I got to layer #18 because I was too tired to go on! Do you have a secret to keeping all the layers stacked evenly? No matter how hard I try, they seem to come out lopsided! My momma says an ugly cake is the best tasting so mine have to be awesome!
Kathy – You can try using a couple of long wooden skewers. Put them in after about 5 or 6 layers and keep stacking up on them. Just be careful because it’s real easy to tear your layers on them. Personally – I just keep pushing it up straight as I work. They always try their best to slide around :-)
Thank you SO much for sharing this recipe! I am a southerner (my family is from Nashville, GA) who is living in Hong Kong….Good cake is hard to come by here, and I have been craving this classic southern cake. I just made your recipe and it came out perfect…just like the cake I remember from family gatherings. I am so proud of myself that I got 12 layers out of it! Thanks for helping bring a little taste from home to a far away place!
Lana-
If you do find out how to convert the measurements, to answer the above question, please post for all of us to see.
I have a similar problem with all my handed-down recipes.
Thanks!
I sure will, Vicki. Maybe I’ll do a whole new post about it.
Lana I don’t know if this is an appropriate question here or not. Please delete if not. I am a great grandmother, 86 yrs. old, and I am having a problem with making my old tried and true recipes. They use to always turn out perfect and could depend on the recipes. Now they flop, or don’t turn out right. Someone said, that the ingredients, e.g. flour etc. are a different consistency now than they used to be. I know you aren’t any where near my age, but have you, or anyone you’ve heard of have this same problem? If so how do they correct it.
Rosemarie – It’s true that lots of ingredients are different nowadays, especially flour. The White Lily that we always depended on for our Southern recipes is even different (company was bought out and the formulation changed). I’m not sure how to compensate for the differences, though, but I’m going to do some research and I will email you with what I find out.
Thanks Lana, I will be looking forward to what you find out.
Hi Lana. Just found you recipe for the 10, 12, 14 layer cake. I am 78, been cooking all my life, used to make cakes, professionally. I even lived in LA for a couple of years, but I never heard of this cake. I am from Maine. Never have seen it on a menu or anywhere ekse in the Northeast. I am going to try to make it. It sounds wonderful.
I don’t think I’d want to use a slicing tool. That would take some of the charm away for me. It’s the fact that my Granny made this cake and I want to make one like hers that makes me want to make them in the first place.
Hi Adriane – these layers are not sliced. They’re individually baked one at a time.
This looks pretty much idential to a “Smith Island” cake. If you don’t know about Smith Island it’s a small community, on an island, in the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. I tried to enclose a picture of a Smith Island cake but the site won’t allow me to do so in this comment box so here is a website address of a company where a person can order a variety of these cakes. The cakes are not only in chocolate, they come in a variety of flavors. See description from Wikipedia below. I particuarily like that THIS cake has been designated as the OFFICIAL dessert of the state of Maryland. I guess since this is the case I’d better learn to make one pretty darn quick. They can be anywhere from 8 to 15 layers. Heck, if you’re going to do it, you might as well go all the way and go for the 15 layers. I guess I’d better get busy and order my Frieling Cake Layer kit.
http://smithislandcake.com/birthday-cake
If for some reason this website address does not work, you’ll have to paste it as it wouldn’t paste in a link, just do a search for Smith Island cake and you can find a variety of recipes to make your own. This cake is one of them on my “bucket” list of cakes I want to make one day. HOWEVER, before I attempt this cake or ANY cake with some small, tiny, fragile, delicate layers I fully intend to purchase a Frieling Layer Cake Slicing Kit which can be purchased from Chef’s Catalog. The thing cost $60.00 so it’s not like adding on a little cookie cutter or a new Ateco tip or something. But truthfully, I wouldn’t even THINK to attempt a cake like this without that tool.
Smith Island Cake:
Smith Island has its own region-specific traditional cuisine. The most famous dish is a locally produced cake featuring 8 to 15 thin layers[9] filled with creme, frosting and/or crushed candy bars. The cake is iced with a cooked chocolate icing. Beginning in the 1800s, Smith Islanders would send these cakes with the watermen on the autumn oyster harvest. The bakers began using fudge instead of buttercream frostings, as cakes frosted with fudge lasted much longer than cakes with other frostings.[10] The cake is often made using a commercial cake mix but with unique additions such as condensed milk. It can also be made from scratch using flour.[11] The most common flavor is yellow cake with chocolate icing but other flavors such as coconut, fig, strawberry, lemon, and orange are also common. Known simply as the Smith Island Cake, the dessert is baked for any occasion and not reserved only for holidays.[12] The cake is also baked as the feature prize for a local fundraising tradition called a cake walk which is a game played like musical chairs where donated cakes serve as the prize. Great attention is paid to the perfection of the pencil-thin layers that form the distinctive cake.[13] Before each round, the prize cake at stake is cut in half and shown to the players who pay to participate in the game. A poorly stacked cake may not attract many players and as a result, not raise as much money as a more perfectly executed cake.[14]
On April 24, 2008, Smith Island cake was designated as the official dessert of the state of Maryland
Pamela – yes, it’s similar to the Smith Island cake. Lots of people have commented on that.
My Great Grandmother Grandmother & Mother made these multilayer cakes all their lives. Chocolate, Lemon Cheese, Coconut & Carmel were always around for Holidays and Birthdays. They would take all day to make because of the small ovens and many layers.
I still have their recipes, but forget to make them often enough.
You’ve inspired me to do it again!
I live in Savannah and there used to be a lady here who you could order them from, but can’t find her anymore.
I am from Eastern North Carolina and my aunt used to make these for holidays and birthdays. Hers usually had 25 or so layers and you could only eat a thin slice because they were so rich. These cakes are delicious and your looks beautiful. When I get some time to bake, I am going to give this a try. Thank you so much for sharing!
My mother made these at Christmas all of my life until she died in 1999. She sometimes had 13 layers on her cakes, the difference being that her’s was the boiled chocolate icing. Every year we gathered at her house to make the cakes, (fresh grated coconut, apple/orange, banana and a nut pound cake). I was usually the one that got the job of stirring the icing.
The Christmas before my mom passed away in February, she was worried about her cakes and how they were going to get done. I told her that I would do them. She insisted they be done at her house and every once in a while she would get out or the bed and come to make sure I was doing them right.
I have not been able to see a Christmas come since she passed away that I did not have those same cakes. I have only managed to get 10 layers on mine, but it is definitely part my Christmas memories with my mom.
I live in the midlands of South Carolina.
The cake originates in New Orleans with pudding between the layers, It is a Doberge Cake. Gambinos bakery bought the recipe from the imigrant that first made it when she sold the bakery to them.
The Doberge cake originated at that bakery in the 1930s as an adaptation of another cake. I’d be really surprised if the Doberge cake was the original for this cake though. It seems like the only thing in common is the multiple layers. With others telling of their great-grandmothers and great-great grandmothers making this cake, I assumed it had been around longer.
I make these for my family and friends. I am from NC now living in GA. The most layers I have ever made was 26 “paper thin” layers for my Pastors’ birthday. A LOT of work!
My saw the times article a few years ago and responded that the cakes were not exclusive to Alabama! A lot of east coast folks (nc, sc, ga) settled Alabama in the early 19th c. So I expect they took recipes with them.
These are referred to as “Smith Island cakes” here in Maryland. And, naturally, Marylanders assume they’re only made here!
Isn’t that funny, Sarah! I’ve found out through the comments on this post that they’re made throughout the South. The New York Times story that I linked to in the post stated emphatically that they are made ONLY in a small area in southeastern Alabama!
Granny was raised in Bellview near Colquitt, and she and her mother and younger sisters moved to Central Florida when she was in her late teens, after her father passed away. She made these cakes all during my Dad’s growing up and baked them for Thanksgiving and family functions when I was growing up. They definitely aren’t limited to SE Alabama. I don’t know how any good food could be limited to one small area. People tend to take their favorite recipes wherever they go and pass them on to their children.
I am Georgia girl…born and raised down here.
These cakes are very popular in the Vidalia-Reidsville-Statesboro areas. Everyone round here knows someone who sells them and there is always one or two old ladies in every church that make them :)
I live in North West Florida, close to Panama City and Tallahassee. We’ve always had these at gatherings, especially church gatherings. My Mama would make one, but on hers she would put some of her homemade Mayhaw Jelly, OH MY how delicious they were. Thank you for bring back wonderful memories, now i want to make the chocolate one and a Mayhaw jelly one for my kids…..and ME.
I would love to make a caramel cake, please post recipe.(caramel icing)
I would love to make a caramel cake, please post recipe.
I am from middle GA, Macon, and I know that these cakes are a staple for the Church suppers and socials in the area. I have seen & have had these cakes with the many little layers that are baked individually. Around Macon, many people call this a 14 layer cake because it is about how many layers there usually ends up being after it is completed.
I’m from Kentucky and stack cakes are made here, mostly Apple Stack Cake. They are made and sold at Apple Festivals, etc. They have 12-14 thin layers. They look like yours except apple. They are yummy! I have never made the chocolate but I have made the apple many times. They also made a mini version (think pancake size) with multiple layers that they sell at the festivals. I’ve only made the big ones. I’m definitely making a chocolate one after seeing yours!
I love the pictures I’ve seen, and I would love to make a lot of them. So I don’t want to miss any recipes u put out, so won’t u please add me to u r mailing list! Ty
Lana, I have searched for this recipe for many years. I cannot thank you enough for posting it! My Granny from Hazlehurst, GA, made this cake many times during my childhood. I loved her and I loved this cake! Now that I have this recipe, I can pass down to my children a delicious part of my Granny’s legacy! Thanks so much!
I’m so glad you found the recipe here, Doreen! I hope you enjoy it and think of your Granny when you make it.
Hi Lana.. I will think of my Granny and I’ll be thanking you at the same time.
Lana – My family is from Dublin, GA and I remember this cake when my grandparents died. Someone made one chocolate and one caramel for my mom and her brothers. I found a similar recipe in a Martha Stewart cookbook but it was almost too sweet to eat. My friend and I are going to try and make this one for Easter. You mentioned caramel in your article but the recipe only includes the chocolate icing. Just curious if you had the recipe for the caramel icing that works with this cake. Thanks for the information.
I live in Delaware and heard about Smith Island Cakes for years. I came across a tiny 4 inch version in a hot dog restaurant in Cambridge, MD. I bought 2 for our yearly tea for the Adams Family women and we loved them. Wanting a bigger cake I checked on line and found many bakeries in the area that make them. The one I went to is in Salisbury MD and they make these cakes in 22 flavors. My husband loves the coconut version. They bake them as you do in many layers rather then slicing the cakes. They have 8 to 10 layers. If you want to see all the flavors you can go to Classic Cakes Salisbury MD and see the whole list.
I enjoyed reading all the comments about your cake, it looks amazing.
My great-grandmother made a cake very much like this with the individual baked layers but her icing was more like a chocolate glaze made with coco powder instead of baking chocolate. Hers normally had between 7-9 layers and she made 2 versions, the chocolate and a pecan that was made with an icing similar to a 7 minute icing. These cakes have been passed over the past 5 generations and we still compare them to the original “Granny Cakes”. Our family is from the lower Alabama area. These cakes have always been a staple at any family get together for as long as I can remember. I have made them during college for roommates and friends and over the years I have brought them to work/friendly gathering and I have never had anyone say that they had seen or heard of this type of cake before. It is truly amazing how much things have changed over the years and how much easier it is to share info through the great wide web. I have never seen or heard of a caramel cake. I would love to have the recipe to try that one.
My Grandmother made these. She was born in 1897 and lived in SE Alabama. my husband from OK. Had never seen one and was quite impressed with the cake!
My husbands grandmother is from Paintsville Ky and they have an annual Apple Day,, and she made apple stack cake every year and it was a lot like your cake,,, she also made 3 kinds of apple pies,,, ,regular two crusted like you see in your grocery store,,,, something called a soft apple pie and fried apple pies,,,,, and for breakfast her famous apple butter,,,,,, I know she had at least 14 layers to her stack cake,, it was legend,,,,, and so good.
My late mother, Clara (Curnutt) Truett born in 1911 said her late older sister Mae (Curnutt) Franklin made a seven layer one of these in Homer, Louisiana back in the 1930’s. Where she got the recipe is unknown since their mother never made it and my mother had never had it before. My mama said it was heavenly and never forgot that cake. They all lived in the Cotton Valley area of Louisiana until marriage. There was no other state connection. Thank you for the memory of my mother. Sincerely, Chaney (Truett) Noe. Wagoner, Oklahoma
My grandmother from upper part of Georgia made the thin layer cakes – carmel with yellow layers and chocolate with yellow layers. I have made them also but the key is letting the layers cool and having the icing in the right consistance so it sets up quick when you finish. 6 layers cakes are easier to manage due to the more layers you have its easier for them to start sliding.
I am from Rockingham, NC and I had an aunt Gladys who made a cake like this. In fact I was talking to my cousin in Riverside Calif. and we were talking about her cake and wishing we had a piece of it. She had seven children and she sure could bake! Lots of good memories!!
I am from Hamlet, do you know the Boney’s from Hamlet, that is my family. I have made this cake so many times now, it is so good. My mom even said it was as good as Artie’s from what used to be The Cake Shop on circle in downtown Rockingham, the best compliment ever!
I’ve seen many of these cakes in southeast Georgia. They are delicious and always a coveted item at raffle fundraisers.
I so thank you for posting this recipe. My great grandmother’s recipe card looked like that of what you described, just a few sentences and no real measurements, no way I could even try to repeat that. I am going to try this one this weekend and hope it tastes like hers did.
You’re welcome, Caroline. Best of luck with the recipe! I hope it turns out just like you remember your great grandmother’s.
I made this today, it is great!! Thanks again for sharing. I only got nine layers, I really wanted 10, but I can fix that next time. I had a few problems with my layers breaking apart, but no big deal, it taste wonderful.
My grandmother made this cake!!!!!! ALL THE TIME!!!! She was from Mississippi! She only did the caramel, though. Do to have that recipe????? I would love to surprise my family!!!! She is gone and never shared her recipes. ( you know the type :) ) I’ll so happy I find this!
did you get the caramel recipe? Would just love to have it is my favorite.
No!
Sandra – I do not have a caramel icing recipe specifically for a little layer cake. You could try just a regular, standard caramel icing to see if that works.
A few old ladies make them here in graniteville sc
You mention people in your town making a caramel icing for this cake. Have you perfected a recipe and if so would you share it? I got a recipe from an elderly friend soon before she died and it was the typical, spoonful of this and handful of that and I’ve never perfected it – although it does taste great!
Thanks in advance!
I’d love the recipe too. My Dad recently told me that he always enjoyed Granny’s caramel cake. I’d love to make one. Granny was the same way when she cooked- a spoonful of this and a handful of that.
How many oz’s are in a BLOCK of unsweetened baking chocolate? Or is a BLOCK and a BAR the same thing? I’m trying to remake my grandmother recipe of this type of cake and most of the ingredients/measurements are the same, but I can’t seem to find out if a block and bar are the same thing or not. I ask for the oz’s because I know Bakers brand recently changed the size of the bars from 8oz to now 4oz.
A block is 1 ounce.
Thank you!! I’ve been trying to figure this out for hours.
My father always talks about how his mama made cakes like this when he was growing up in Reidsville, GA (SE Georgia). Simple, thin layers of yellow cake cooked in a cast iron skillet and each layer coated with very thin, syrupy chocolate icing.
I live in Eastern NC and make this all the time. My recipe is a little different than this one. I’m going to try some of the different ones just to see how I like them.
My aunt who lives is Nichols, SC makes this cake. It is wonderful. I live is spartanburg/Greenville, sc area and have had some with peanut butter icing as well. Getting my nerve up to try my hand at it for the first time….. We shall see.
My sweet son who is the youngest of 6 has his birthday on 12/23. I asked him what cake he wanted and described this cake. I grew in Northern Florida and this recipe has been handed down through the years in my extended family. I am so grateful you have posted this recipe. It was my favorite every Christmas when all my cousins got together. My mother has mailed yhr cake to us in the winter because we it love so much. I think of my aunt who lived in SW Georgia when I was young. This recipe is a blessing.
Thank you for your sweet comment, Natalie! Would you believe I *just* got finished making one of these for Christmas? Best birthday wishes to your son and a Merry Christmas to you!
The blocks of chocolate each equal 1 ounce.
My son bought ghirardelli baking chocolate instead of the baker’s brand. Not sure if the blocks would be the same measurement. Could you give the approx. weight you use of chocolate?
Vicki – the squares of baking chocolate are 1 ounce each.
My mom is from South Georgia, near the Tifton area, and my aunts have made the chocoalte and the caramel version. I grew up in North Florida and it was a popular cake there, too. I now live in Northeast Alabama and I don’t see it made here. I have made it a few times. Most people are amazed that each layer is baked individually. I have made up to 15 layers but not all 15 were in the cake since I do tend to break a few layers.
Hi,
am looking for a recipe with the thin layers…my mom called it “hocake cake” and cooked it on top of the stove in a small black round griddle. It was a yellow cake and the icing was clear almost with chopped pecans or chopped pineapple added…we are from south Georgia
Hi Betty – I’m from south Georgia, too, but the only hoecake I’ve ever known about is a thin cornbread. I haven’t heard of a sweet hoecake.
Will add your user friendly recipe to my Christmas menu. Thanks!
Looks just like my grandmother’s cake everyone used to stand in line for at gatherings. My sister gave me a recipe for it but assumed I knew the meaning of a tad of this and a bit of that. Also, said to cook icing to soft-boil stage. Managed eight layers on my one try but the icing dripped to the counter and floor. Clean up was not worth it. Does this icing have the slightly crusty texture on the very outside?
Vicki – yes the icing does have a little crunch on the outside after it has set. And it does run everywhere when you’re icing the cake. I set the cake on a rack inside a baking sheet and just keep scooping it up and putting it back on the cake :-)
I am so proud to say that I made this cake last night, and it turned out so great!! I’ve always wanted to make one, since growing up in Eastern NC, and enjoying it. It was a big hit after church today for dessert! In fact, I think I will make another one for Thanksgiving! I ended up with 9 layers, and was happy with them, because I was using 9 inch pans, instead of the called for, 8 inch.
I’m so happy to hear that you had success with your cake, Kim! That’s fantastic.
How thoroughly delightful it is to have discovered your site, Lana, and just in time for the holidays, too, for the conversation here resonates with a warmth that is akin to sharing stories in a dear one’s kitchen. And this recipe is simply divine! Thank you!
Thank you so much for your kind comment!
This is very popular in Northwest Florida. My grandmother is making me one today. I can’t wait to share it with family and friends.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I’m from Eastern NC also and this cake is the one that everyone would flock to at our family reunions and holidays. My aunt would make it and bless her heart, she couldn’t cook much else, but she was a fine baker and this was her specialty!
I have tried to do this several times and have never been successful. Do you just grease the pans or flour and grease? I have seen these cakes made around here in N.C.; but the two women I knew that made them no longer do. My cakes stick to the pan and break when trying to get out. I love this cake and want to be able to make it. Any help would be appreciated. I flour and grease my pans.
Hi Jo. I grease the pans with shortening. I wipe them out and re-grease in between each set of layers as I bake.
Jo, not sure if you do this or not, but do not put the batter into the pans until just before you slide them into the oven. If you put the batter into the pans and they sit for several minutes before baking, they will stick. I just spray my pans with PAM Baking or Bakers Joy Floured spray, spray well, and I turn my pans upside down and the layers fall out onto my hand. I do not flour and grease seperately. I have made hundreds of these. Good luck.
HI, I also make the little layer cakes, 14 layers that is. I have made hundreds of them. I live in SW Georgia, my recipe came from my husbands Grandmother who lived in Alabama. The recipe posted here is very similar to mine, and I am sure is just as good. I know of several people here that make this cake, so it is not just an Alabama cake or Smith Island Cake. Everyone loves it!
also, I was just reading more posts / comments, did not realize you live in Colquitt. I live in Blakely, and I bet you know my sister, I have several relatives who live in Colquitt……small world !!
Hi Sandy – Yes, I grew up in Colquitt and my mother still lives there. My husband and I live near Atlanta now.
This cake is an ole’ favorite in Eastern North Carolina as well.
Thank you for this recipe. I plan to make it tomorrow. Do you happen to have the caramel frosting recipe? If so please share!
These cakes are so popular in Eastern NC that some bakeries make them. Seems to be a pocket of popularity with Bladen, Sampson, and Harnett Counties at the center. I love the chocolate (try to get one for every birthday), and no church function or wake is complete without it. This weekend I enjoyed a slice of 15-layer black walnut cake with cooked caramel icing. Oh, my!!! I’m pretty certain that both cakes are served in Heaven.
I made this today but altered to 1234 cake and used old-fashion icing (cocoa). Delish!
Wouldn’t you know it! Our family was all together for a funeral recently and they all started talking about Ma-Ma’s little layer chocolate cake. No one knew how she made it but they all missed that cake. And where is Ma-Ma from? The southwest of GA :) My husband has been trying for years off and on to make her cake. He’s going to try this one today :)
My Granny made a cake like this. She grew up in the Bellview area outside of Colquitt in Miller County, Georgia.
Hi Adriane – I’m from Colquitt, too, and these little layer cakes were always around when I was growing up.
If you know anyone with the last name Addison, they are probably kin. :)
I asked my dad about this cake. He said granny made 5 layers. I don’t remember them being quite as thin. He said he really liked the caramel one she made so I’m looking for a recipe. :)
Hi! I am writing an article for my blog about my friends obsession with these cakes! She drives to the outer banks of nc and buys 3 at a time and brings them home to freeze! I am featuring you as my inspiration as I am going to attempt to make this!! I will let you know how it goes!!
Hope the cake turns out good for you! Let me know how it goes.
My Mother-in-law made apple stack cake, her’s had 6-8 layers. I learned to make it from an older lady at my sister-in-law’s church, it has five layers. My kids liked it and always hoped one of the layers would break apart coming out of the pan so they could eat it right then while hot. Her recipe said you could also use it to make Tea Cakes, it’s really good. I live in Northwest GA.
I live in the panhandle of Florida and I’ve seen, made and eaten these cakes all my life. My grandmother made them in iron skillets on a wood bring stove and if he lacked the ingredients for the chocolate icing, she would put homemade blackberry jelly between the layers and on top. My daddy liked them better with the jelly but I’m a fiend for chocolate so that’s the way I always go. I took one of these to a family reunion last year and it was the first dessert plate empty. These cakes are time consuming to make but everyone seems to love them so much it’s worth it.
The only one I have ever seen was in Georgia, Swainsboro to be exact. It was tasty though
I’m from a Statesboro, which is very close to Swainsboro. My grandmother made these for birthdays, along with her caramel cakes.
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 :-)
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 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!
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! :-)
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!
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!
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!
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!
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:)
Yes I grew up my step mom would make this cake love love love it!!! Thin layers. And I going to attempt it myself!
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.
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.
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.