Lady Baltimore Cake
By Leslie Bilderback 02/01/2010
¾ cup shortening
2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 egg whites
1 recipe Italian Meringue (see below)
1. Preheat oven to 350˚. Coat three 10-inch cake pans with pan spray, line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper, then spray the paper too. Beat together shortening and sugar until smooth and creamy. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, and add to shortening mixture, alternating with milk. Stir in vanilla, and set batter aside.
2. Whip egg whites to stiff peaks, then fold gently into batter. Divide batter evenly among three pans, and spread smooth. (Do not tap or whack the pans, as it will deflate the egg whites.) Bake 15 to 25 minutes, until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, then invert onto cooling racks to cool completely.
Italian Meringue
1 cup sugar ½ teaspoon salt
½ cup light corn syrup 4 egg whites
¼ cup water 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, water and salt. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat until it reaches firm ball stage* (245˚).
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using a whisk or an electric mixer, whip the egg whites into stiff peaks. Continue whipping while slowly drizzling in the hot sugar syrup. Add vanilla and whip until stiff peaks are formed. (When adding the sugar syrup, try not to drizzle it on the whipping whisk. This tends to spin it into threads, like cotton candy. And don't be alarmed when the addition of sugar syrup deflates your stiff whites. Continued whisking brings back the peaks.)
* As it cooks, sugar moves through several stages: thread, ball, crack and finally caramelization. The stages refer to the form sugar takes when cooled. Candy thermometers are fine for measuring the sugar mixture, but to double-check the stage by hand, spoon a small amount of boiling sugar into a dish of ice water.
As soon as it chills, touch it. It will be stringy, like thread, pliable and easy to form into a ball, or crisp and easily cracked. Each stage corresponds to a specific temperature, which will be specified by the recipe.
Assembly
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped Grated zest of 1 orange
1 cup golden raisins 1 cup orange juice
1 cup dried figs, chopped 1 cup sugar
1. Stir together pecans, raisins, figs and orange zest. Set aside 1/3 cup and mix the remainder with 2 cups of meringue. Combine orange juice and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
2. Place one cake layer on serving platter and brush with orange syrup, then spread with half the meringue fruit mixture. Top with the second cake layer and repeat. Place the third layer on top, brush with syrup, then ice top and sides with remaining meringue. Decorate with a sprinkling of remaining fruit, and serve at room temperature.
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