By: jackie.sauter

Delegate Page Elmore, R-Somerset, is hoping to win a sweet victory in the legislative session: to pass his bill that proposes naming Smith Island’s 10-layer cake the official state dessert. (In the newsroom, we’re wondering: what about Baltimore’s Berger cookies?)

On Tuesday, Elmore sought to win the hearts of lawmakers through their stomachs when he had about 500 slices of the cake delivered to the State House.

AP writer Kristen Wyatt watched Del. Melony Griffith, D-Prince George’s, tuck in to a thin slice of the most common flavor: yellow cake in 10-centimeter thick layers with chocolate frosting. “I make a pretty mean sweet potato pie, but oh, this is good,” said Griffith.

About 50 lawmakers have agreed to co-sign the bill, but there are some doubters. Maryland already has 21 state symbols, from the Calico cat to the state sport of jousting, and though some of them are well known, many are not.

Elmore is hoping the bill will boost Smith Island, as pollution has hurt the seafood industry and the working population of the island is dwindling, something former Daily Record reporter Steven Overly discovered when he visited the island for a feature story in August.

On the bill, anyway, we’ll just have to see how the cookie crumbles.

JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor

Above: Del. William J. Frank, (R-Baltimore County) accepts a wedge of 10-layer Smith Island cake Tuesday, Jan. 22.

UPDATE: Read the extended version of this post for the recipe for Smith Island cake.

Recipe of native Smith Islander Frances Kitching for a 10-layer Smith Island cake:

— 2 cups sugar

— 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), cut into chunks

— 5 eggs

— 3 cups flour

— ¼ teaspoon salt

— 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

— 1 cup evaporated milk

— 2 teaspoons vanilla

— ½ cup water

Cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Mix into egg mixture one cup at a time. With mixer running, slowly pour in the evaporated milk, then the vanilla and water. Mix just until uniform.

Put three serving spoonfuls of batter into each of 10 9-inch, lightly greased pans, using the back of the spoon to spread evenly. Bake three layers at a time in the middle rack of an oven at 350 degrees for eight minutes. A layer is done when you hold it near your ear and you don’t hear it sizzle.

Start making the icing when the first layers go in the oven. Put the cake together as the layers are finished. Let layers cool a couple minutes in the pans. Run a spatula around the edge of the pan and ease the layer out of the pan. Don’t worry if it tears; no one will notice when the cake is finished. Use two and three serving spoonfuls of icing between each layer. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the rest of the icing. Place icing that runs onto the plate back onto the cake.

Chocolate icing:

— 2 cups sugar

— 1 cup evaporated milk

— 5 ounces unsweetened chocolate

— 1 stick unsalted butter

— ½ to 1 teaspoon vanilla

Put sugar and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until warm. Add chocolate and cook to melt. Add butter and melt. Cook over medium heat at a slow boil for 10 to 15 minutes. Add vanilla. Icing will be thin, but will thicken as it cools.