Cake

And now for some words about Maryland's official state cake - the Smith Island Cake. It consists of a mind-boggling number of thin alternating layers of cake and frosting, which is then fully covered with more frosting. The number of layers can vary. The one I just bought today has 8. But I think the general rule of thumb is that they have around 10.


The classic Smith Island Cake flavor is yellow cake with chocolate fudge frosting. The original flavor is sold as mini-cakes (4 servings) at some Giant store locations in Maryland, along with coconut (white cake with coconut frosting), seasonal (pumpkin), and red velvet (white frosting). I've also seen cake pops for sale at the Giant, but I haven't tried them yet.

All the cakes are from the Original Smith Island Cake Company, located in Smith Island, which is an actual island off the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland that is only accessible via boat. I looked into travelling there a few months ago and staying in this B&B, but we ended up buying a house and the timing didn't work out. I still want to go there one day. I hear they also serve excellent seafood and fish at that inn.

My husband LOVES this cake. It is pretty darn good. Good enough to make me break my diet once in a while. Actually, I tend to succumb to dessert more often than not. Life is short. This cake has 320 calories per serving and just over 1/2 your daily saturated fat intake so I usually have split a serving.

Here's a recipe for the cake. I am interested in making it some time, but I would either need to buy more round cake pans or be extremely patient in order to bake a bunch of separate batches and come up with 10 or so layers.