Helen Tawes’ Seven Layer Cake
Helen Avalynne Gibson and John Millard Tawes didn’t have a decadent wedding. The newspapers ran no reports about Helen’s dress, or the flowers she carried, or the people who attended.
In fact, the union didn’t appear in the paper at all until nearly two months later, when the Baltimore Sun ran a small article entitled, “Hid Marriage Certificate.”
The report about the wedding between 17-year-old Gibson and 21-year-old Tawes, which had taken place in Fruitland on Christmas day 1915, centered on the fact that Helen’s sister Onida Gibson had discovered the hidden certificate. “Both denied that they were married until confronted with the certificate: they then confessed and said they had ‘had lots of fun out of it.'”
At the time, Helen Tawes probably had no idea that she would recount the story to the Baltimore Sun over thirty years later when J. Millard Tawes was making his first attempt at the Governorship of Maryland. Tawes had served as comptroller since 1939.
The glowing article featured a photograph of the family gathered around a piano. Mrs. Tawes, who studied at the Peabody Conservatory, played accompaniment to the trumpet of their son Philip Wesley, also a Peabody alum.
That year, J. Millard Tawes lost the Democratic primary to William Preston Lane, Jr. In 1950, he was re-appointed as comptroller when his successor resigned. After another decade in that office, Tawes finally successfully ascended to become Governor of Maryland, making Helen Avalynne Gibson Tawes the first lady of the state.
Helen would fill the role as only a woman reared in Crisfield could do – with a reputation of kitchen mastery of all the Chesapeake Bay had to offer.
Some refer to her first recipe book as “a piece of campaign literature.” Be that as it may, after the Governorship was secured, Tawes continued work on her cookbook, eventually expanding it into 179 pages as “My Favorite Maryland Recipes,” published in 1964.
Our state’s famous Terrapin, Crab, and Oyster may be front and center of Tawes’ book, but she didn’t stop there. The book starts with “Spicy Pickle Dip” and ends with potent cocktails. There is of course that Delmarva Grilled Chicken recipe. There’s some mid-century curried fruit and frozen “salads.” A recipe that has intrigued me the most is for Seven Layer Chocolate Cake.
Crisfield is the nearest town on the mainland to Smith Island.
Tawes’ cake is made from seven thin layers of yellow cake with a fudgy icing. You get the idea.
The seven-layer cake isn’t unique mind you. The earliest recipes for seven-layer cakes were typically filled with jelly. Chocolate in and on cakes gained more popularity in the 1900s as the price of chocolate went down. Advertisements for diners and bakeries around the country promoted “Seven-Layer Chocolate Cake” sold by the slice.
Still, Tawes’ choice to include the recipe in her book of favorites could indicate a particular popularity of this cake in the community she hailed from. As recently as the early 2000s, the Ewell Volunteer Fire Company included a seven-layer cake, made with cake mix and a similar evaporated milk chocolate fudge icing, in a community cookbook.
Who knows the connection between this cake and Smith Island Cake, really? But making the cake did make me think. First of all, an odd number of layers seems impractical. Tawes suggested that the recipe could make a four-layer cake. What if you have three pans, like I did? I made a six-layer cake. I later realized that I could have just as easily made nine. Which makes it a bona fide Smith Island Cake.
The cake was good. I think most Smith Island Cake recipes have a fudgier icing and a more moist cake, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it.
It’s clear from the sugar-sifting step that this recipe necessitated powdered sugar. I used confectioner’s sugar, which contains starch. I am not sure how different that made the icing.
If Helen Avalynne Tawes’ cookbook was in support of her husband’s career, she certainly supported it on her own terms in her own way. Her contributions earned her the Helen Avalynne Gibson Tawes Garden in Annapolis, named in her honor. Tawes was happy to leave Annapolis behind, however. “I didn’t like politics very much in the old days; it messes up your family life and takes your husband away,” she told the Baltimore Sun in 1978. The Tawes’ retired to Crisfield in 1967. J. Millard worked as Treasurer of Maryland from 1973-1975. He is the only person to have worked as Treasurer, Comptroller, and Governor. He died in 1979. Helen lived another ten years in Crisfield. “She enjoyed old friends and life away from the public eye,” read her 1989 obituary in the Baltimore Sun. But her cooking was not forgotten. The obituary mentioned her crab, pound cake, and sweet potato ice cream.
Helen Tawes’ book may not be Maryland’s #1 most iconic cookbook, but it is certainly on the list. Copies of the original or a reprint can easily be found online. Curried fruit aside, maybe more of her “Favorite Maryland Recipes” merit a second look.
Recipe:
Cake:
- 1 Cup butter or margarine
- 2 Cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 3.5 Cups cake flour
- 3.5 Teaspoon baking powder
- .5 Teaspoon salt
- 1 Cup milk
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Teaspoon almond extract
Cream softened butter or margarine thoroughly, then slowly add sugar and cream together until light and fluffy. Add whole eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk to which flavorings have been added. Beat after each addition. Do not over-beat. Preheat oven to 350°. (Bake four layers at once, then three layers.) Grease cake pans and dust with flour. Put about 1 cup batter in each cake pan, spreading it evenly. Layers will be thin. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately turn onto cake rack. Remove from pans. Frost and stack while layers are still warm and second baking is taking place.
Rich Chocolate Frosting
- 6 squares unsweetened chocolate
- .75 Cup butter or margarine
- 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
- .75 Cup evaporated milk
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6.75 Cups [powdered or confectioners’] sifted sugar
- 1 Tablespoons cold water
Melt chocolate and butter over low heat. Add corn syrup. Stir until mixture is melted. Remove from heat and add the evaporated milk and vanilla. Stir until mixture takes on a custard appearance. Add sifted sugar all at once. Do not beat with mixer. Stir until all sugar is absorbed. Keep stirring until it turns to a shiny, creamy frosting. Frosting will thicken slightly as it is being put on cake. Add a little cold water as needed so that it will spread smoothly and retain the glazed look. (This recipe can be used for a four-layer cake also.)
Recipe from My Favorite Maryland Recipes. Helen Avalynne Tawes. Random House. New York. 1964.
