Everyday Cakes from the Sea Islands to the Smokies

Appears in
Southern Cakes
Southern Cakes

By Nancie McDermott

Published 2007

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This chapter is your cook’s tour of home-style baking in the nooks and crannies of the South. From the warm Atlantic coastal waters to the chilly mountain streams of the Blue Ridge, people have been baking cakes for centuries—cakes that evoke the particular places and ways of life in each distinct region.

Start with the Sea Islands off the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia. Indulge in a tender slice of fresh PEAR BREAD from Mrs. Cornelia Walker Bailey of Sapelo Island, Georgia. Mrs. Bailey traces her family’s life on Sapelo Island back to the early 1800s, and keeps the ancestors and the Geechee traditions vivid through her writing, cooking, and storytelling. Travel on up to South Carolina’s Daufuskie Island, where Sallie Anne Robinson shares her comforting CARROT CAKE, along with delicious stories of Gullah traditions. Then head up to Ocracoke Island, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, for a thick slice of FIG CAKE WITH BUTTERMILK GLAZE.