Last updated on October 25th, 2024
The Lord Baltimore Cake is a historic 1900’s vintage dessert made with a white cake, delightful macaroon cookie and nut filling, and topped with 7-minute frosting. My vintage inspiration for this cake comes from my copy of the 1941 Better Homes & Garden Cook Book. The Lord Baltimore Cake appears in a full-color illustration of several vintage cakes.
What is a Lord Baltimore Cake?
The Lord Baltimore Cake is a variation on the popular Lady Baltimore Cake and, which surprisingly neither of the two cakes originated in Baltimore. The main difference between them has to do with the incorporation of the eggs. The Lady Baltimore recipe contains egg whites, while the Lord Baltimore contains egg yolks. The filling for cake is also slightly different. The Lady Baltimore calls for dried fruit and pecans, while the Lord Baltimore calls for crushed macaroon coconut cookies, nuts, and cherries.
In my great-grandmother’s recipe box, I found a very small clipping of the filling for the Lord Baltimore Cake where part of the recipe card is missing. As I researched versions of the recipe, I found it called for red and green candied cherries and the flakes of coconut were spread on top as a garnish.
Photo: Page from Better Homes & Gardens (1941)
How to make Lord Baltimore Cake:
INGREDIENTS
fat:
Using butter in a cake provides flavor, while using oil makes it super moist cake. Canola oil is perfect since it has a neutral and light flavor.
After your cakes are baked, pull them out from the oven and cover with an upside down baking sheet. Let them cool for about 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges and turn the cake out onto a piece of parchment paper. Then wrap right away in saran wrap to seal in moisture.
BAKER’S TIPS
How to make the cake filling:
The ingredients for the cake filling vary among vintage recipes, but it typically includes coconut macaroon crumbles, cherries and chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts or almonds). For the cherries you can choose to use candied, dried, or maraschino depending on your taste. For the coconut macaroon crumbles, I made Homemade Coconut Macaroon cookies and crumbled them up. They tasted delicious on their own, so I knew they would lend a good bit of toasty coconut flavor to the cake filling.
How to make Seven-Minute Frosting:
While searching for history on this cake, I found that Seven-minute Frosting was often referred to as divinity frosting. Once you add the fruity nut filling to the 7-minute frosting it tastes just like divinity candy, a confection made around Christmas. Many people find seven-minute frosting tricky to make especially if it is humid out. Some older recipes call for corn syrup or cream of tarter. I like to add both cream of tarter and cornstarch to help stabilize the frosting. Old-fashioned recipes suggest that you beat the frosting the entire time over the stove with a hand mixer. I prefer to whisk it for a few minutes by hand and then move it to the stand mixer. Once you move the bowl to the mixer, just put on high speed and beat until it is shiny with stiff peaks.
how to assemble the cake:
After you make the frosting, take out 1/3 to add to it the filling. Put first layer down on cake plate and place some parchment paper along the sides to keep plate clean. Use an off-set spatula and spread filling on the first layer. Place on the second layer and spread on filling. Place on the last layer (upside down) so you have a nice flat top layer to frost. Cover top with remaining filling and push down onto to the sides of the cake. To decorate, keep it simple by placing whole ingredients that were featured in the filling, such as walnuts or candied cherries or shredded coconut over the cake.
Lord Baltimore Cake
Ingredients
CAKE-DRY INGREDIENTS
- 2 2/3 c. unbleached flour
- 1 T. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tsp. salt
CAKE-WET INGREDIENTS
- 3/4 c. unsalted butter room temp
- 1/4 c. oil
- 1 2/3 c. sugar
- 8 egg yolks
- 1 c. buttermilk or milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 tsp. lemon extract
FILLING
- 1 c. macaroon crumbs crushed
- 1/2 c. walnuts or almonds finely chopped
- 1/4 c. cherries (candied) finely chopped
- 1 T. orange zest
Seven-Minute FROSTING
- 3 egg whites
- 1 1/2 c. superfine sugar
- 1/3 c. water
- 1 T. cornstarch or unflavored gelatin
- 1/2 tsp. cream of tarter
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- pinch salt
HOMEMADE MACAROON COOKIES
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 c. sugar
- 2 c. unsweetened coconut shredded
- 1 c. sweetened coconut shredded
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/4 tsp. almond extract natural
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Instructions
PREP
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (3) 8" round cake pans.
MAKE CAKE
- Cream butter and sugar.
- Separate out 8 egg yolks and reserve (2) egg whites to use in the macaroon cookies and frosting and (3) egg whites to use in the 7-minute frosting.
- Add in egg yolks and beat together until light and fluffy.
- Mix together dry ingredients and add to mixer.
- Pour in buttermilk, oil, vanilla and lemon extract. Zest orange and add to batter and mix together until just combined.
- Pour 1/3 of the batter into each of the (3) greased cake pans. Bake for 25-28 minutes. Place toothpick in center comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool before frosting them.
- Release cake from sides of pan with an off-set spatula. Turn cakes out onto parchment paper or cooling rack. Wrap in plastic wrap until cake assembly to retail the moisture.
MAKE MACAROON COOKIES
- Beat egg whites and sugar until foamy.
- Add in coconut, vanilla, almond extract, and salt.
- Use medium cookie scoop and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake at 325° for 20-23 minutes until coconut tips look toasted, but not dark.
MAKE FILLING
- Make or purchase macaroon cookies. Crush cookies for filling and place in a bowl.
- Finely chop walnuts and candied cherries and add to bowl.
- Zest orange and add to bowl and mix together.
MAKE FROSTING
- Over double broiler with the bowl from stand mixer place egg whites, sugar, water, cornstarch, cream of tarter, and salt. Whisk for about 5 minutes until all the sugar is dissolved and not gritty.
- Move bowl to stand mixer and add vanilla. Beat on high until glossy with stiff peaks form, about another 3-4 minutes. Place on cake right away or store covered until use. Frosting will crust once applied to cake, so be sure to cover with a glass cake stand or just cover with plastic wrap.
ASSEMBLE CAKE
- Take our 1/3 of the 7-minute frosting and add it to the filling mixture. The remaining 2/3 of frosting will be used to frost the cake.
- Put bottom layer of cake onto cake plate. Place wax or parchment paper around edges of cake in order to frost neatly.
- Place 1/3 of the filling on top of the first layer and spread with off-set spatula.
- Place middle layer on the cake. Place filling on top of the middle layer.
- Add the last layer of cake with the bottom-side down so you have smooth top.
- Place remaining frosting on the top of the cake and swirl around pushing it down onto the sides. Use an off-set spatula to guide the frosting.
- Garnish cake with nuts or other simple components of the filling such as the candied cherries, shredded coconut or macaroon cookies.
Here is my recipe for Lady Baltimore Cake
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @vintagebakedmodern on Instagram and hashtag #vintagebakedmodern
