Southern Sweet & Savory, Southern Belle Cake & Lulu Paste



I was cooking from an old cookbook this week, so I can share some good memories along with some wonderful recipes. You'll find an amazing cake that is perfect for winter, and a delicious heirloom cheese spread that can be stored in a jar in the fridge. I hope you'll take the time to make the recipes, and enjoy them as much as I did.

Southern Belle Cake from Recipes From The Old South

 

When I was a child, I loved walking through the front door of my grandmother's big old house, because from there, at the threshold, I could see the dining room table and the cake that she'd baked sitting proudly on the edge. I never really knew what kind of cake I'd find on a particular day, but one of my favorites was a tall Lemon Jelly Cake, also known in the south as a Lemon Cheese Cake.

This cake was good year round, but especially in the winter, because on those chilly winter days in Alabama, the dining room stayed cold, and the cake on the tall, pretty pedestal that sat on the long, dark table stayed as fresh, and as beautiful as if it had been made the hour before.

This very southern cake had several layers of yellow or white cake with what my grandmother called a "filling", which was a cooked mixture of fresh lemon juice, zest, egg, and sugar. It was much like a lemon curd. The "filling" would drip out from between the sandwiched cake layers and puddle on the edge of the cake pedestal where we could scoop it up with a spoon to get a little more sweetness on the cake.

I was reminded of this wonderful cake again this week when I was reading an old cookbook that I've had for many years. This wonderful old book with the recipe so similar to my grandmother's, is Recipes From the Old South, by Margaret L. Meade. Instead of lemons, Miss Meade used oranges and mace in her cake called the Southern Belle Cake.

I made the cake yesterday and after tasting it, thought that she could not have chosen a more appropriate name. To me, a Southern Belle is sweet, soft, tender and very elegant, but on the other hand she can verbally kick some behind if she needs to. This cake was all of that, wonderfully sweet, a little kick with the mace, and a very tender texture. My husband and I loved the cake, and thought it extraordinary.

I made a couple of changes to my cake, and I will tell you what they are and let you decide if you want to follow the recipe as it was written, or go in my direction. I hope you'll make this recipe, so that you can enjoy this cake as much as we did. If you make it as a gift, be prepared to have new best friends. Because I tell you my good friends, it is scrumptious!

Southern Belle Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mace (this should have been 1/2 teaspoon for the cake and 1/2 for the whipped cream, but I used 1 teaspoon mace for the cake)
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs, separated
2/3 cup fresh orange juice
Rind of 1 orange
Whipped cream, sweetened (I used a mock clotted cream, find recipe below)
Grated orange peel

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 teaspoon mace together three times. Cream butter and sugar together well; add well beaten egg yolks to butter-sugar mixture. Next add dry ingredients, orange juice, and grated rind and beat well. Then fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake in three greased 8-inch pans in 350 degree oven about 30 minutes. ( I used 3 greased and floured 8-inch cake pans, and the cakes only took 20 minutes to cook, so do watch the time). Allow the cakes to cool, and then spread orange filling between and on top of cake and cover with sweetened whipped cream into which 1/2 teaspoon mace has been blended. Sprinkle with grated orange peel.

Orange Filling

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons orange juice (fresh)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated orange rind
1 egg
1 tablespoon butter

Sift sugar, flour, and salt together. Add orange and lemon juice and orange rind. Add slightly beaten egg and butter. Mix well in top of double boiler and cook until thick and smooth (about 10 minutes), stirring frequently. Cool partially before frosting cake. (This made about 3/4 cup, I cooled it and divided it by 3 or 1/4 cup per layer, which includes the top).

Mock Clotted Cream

I used this instead of the whipped cream with mace.

1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons whipped cream cheese
mace

Mix all ingredients except mace. Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, whip until mixture is light and fluffy. Place this in a pretty bowl, sprinkle the top with mace, and place the bowl at the edge of the cake plate.  Serve a heaping tablespoonful on the edge of the cake plate.

  Lulu Paste 

 

So please tell me, have you ever heard of Lulu Paste?  Neither had I, until again, I was reading Recipes From the Old South. According to Miss Meade, this pimiento cheese type recipe, "is considered an heirloom recipe in Richmond".

 

Although it's very much like our pimiento cheese, it has other ingredients and when you see what they are, you'll be surprised. I must tell you that I thought it was delicious on crackers.

 

I always use Cabot cheese when I make anything, so this is made with Cabot Vermont Sharp Cheddar.

 

The recipe as written by Miss Meade:

 

1 pound sharp Cheddar cheese

1 small onion

1 (4-ounce) can pimientos (we get this in jars now, and I believe this is intended to be drained)

1/2 cup tomato catsup

1 pinch dry mustard

A little chili sauce (optional)

1 cup mayonnaise

 

"Grind cheese, onion, and pimientos in food grinder. Add other ingredients and stir until well mixed. Store in screw-top jar in icebox. This is considered an heirloom recipe in Richmond. It is a very delicious spread."

 

I grated the cheese in my food processor, and made it just like I would make pimiento cheese, except for adding the other ingredients. Delicious.

See you next time. Have a wonderful, and flavorful week!