Baltimore Peach Cake* - OLD LINE PLATE

Hoehns Bakery Baltimore Peach Cake

“Every spring and summer, almost like clockwork, I receive multiple recipe requests for the Baltimore peach cake… Peach cake is one of those uniquely Baltimore things, like coddies, that
live long in people’s memories. The true Baltimore peach cake is always
a yeast-based cake, and most neighborhood bakeries make it as a large
sheet cake rather than as a round cake. That way it can easily be sliced
into nice, big squares and maximize the amount of peaches per slice.” – Baltimore Sun Recipe Finder 2014

Baltimore peach-cake, purportedly a contribution from the city’s German population, has been a celebrated summer tradition in the city for decades. Praise and nostalgia over peach cake has been issued by the Baltimore Sun on a nearly annual basis, with Jacques Kelly alone penning no less than three articles celebrating the dessert.

“I believe that like so much in Baltimore, the perfect peach cake has no frills. But many devotees will give me a loud argument on this one. Just as Old Bay seasoning has no place in a crab cake recipe, apricot or raspberry jellies — or cinnamon — have no place in a proper peach cake. Sometime in the past 30 years, a glazed topping has insinuated itself into local baking. I think of this glazing as Formstoning what was once a simple and delicious product. Whoever came up with cinnamon needs an evaluation at the Phipps Clinic.” – Jacques Kelly, “The time is ripe for Baltimore peach cake”, 2010

Since “peach cake” can mean many things, it’s hard to know just how far back Baltimore Peach Cake, in its known form, has been around.

1905, Baltimore Sun

“Unless you’re a true Baltimorean,” [said Julia Logue-Riordan], “you don’t know about Baltimore peach cake and how wonderful it is. I grew up on it… everyone always seems to remember eating it way back but nobody seems to know exactly how it developed.” – “Peach cake mystery has a sweet ending”, Baltimore Sun, 1983

I certainly do not qualify as a true Baltimorean; the existence of Baltimore Peach Cake being news to me in the past few years. This was the first time I’ve actually tried it.

I’ll just own up right now that this recipe was not a huge success. Popular peach cake lore says that this Baltimore specialty should be bought from a bakery, and I should have probably listened considering that I don’t even own the right pan. As you can maybe see in the photo, the edges burned due to being cooked in a pie pan.

BGE Cookbooks from 1983, 1975

My recipe, the same one that gets reprinted in the Sun, is from an old BGE cookbook, the 1985 “Maryland Classics.” Gas and electric companies started publishing cookbooks in the 20th century to encourage the use of… gas and electricity, and the books remained common through the 1990s. This particular BGE cookbook is somewhat impressive for its thoroughness with the Maryland recipes. In addition to Baltimore Peach cake there’s Smearcase, Maryland Fried Chicken, and even Maryland Stuffed Ham. Hats off to the “Home Economics Staff” at BGE.

The BGE recipe includes several features that are the source of some controversy. The cinnamon is disavowed by some, as is the glaze. Jacques Kelly campaigns against these “frills” in each of his articles, with back-up from interviewees. Fenwick bakery’s Walter Uebersax asserted that “There’s no monkey business with glaze here,” in Kelly’s 1993 article “Peach cake gives the summer its sweetest taste.”

Also controversial is the question of whether to peel the peaches. In a 1991 article, baker George Simon told Kelly that he “never knew a baker who peeled his peaches for the cake. Some just broke open the peaches, threw away the pits and split the fruit into fours and set them into the dough,”

Those who witnessed the gradual closing of the dozens of bakeries that sold Baltimore Peach Cake may believe that the tradition is dying. Jacques Kelly rattled off a list of them in 1993: “Years after Silber’s, Glaser’s, Gerstung’s, Heying’s and Doebereiner’s bakeries went out of business, their former customers still rhapsodize over the merits of their remembered peach cakes.”

In a blog post this year (check it out, it has good photos), he names just five bakeries that still sell peach cake.

I’m inclined to believe that nothing could die out with this much interest and passion surrounding it. Still, it helps to actually buy the cake. Not just once as a novelty, but year after year. Ultimately, I resolved to do just that. After some gnocci at DiPasquales I walked on over to Hoehns (aside – Highlandtown is pretty great!) and ordered up a slab. I’m adding this, like shad roe, to the list of annual purchases to look forward to. It came in a nice little box, tied up with string. Pulling the ends of the bow was like opening a gift.

Recipe:

1 ¾ cups unsifted all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 package (¼ ounce) active dry yeast
2 tablespoons softened butter or margarine
½ cup very hot tap water
1 egg
1 ½ to 2 cups peeled, sliced peaches
3 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup apricot jam
1 drop red food coloring, optional (I did not have but would look nice)

In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix ½ cup flour, sugar, salt and undissolved yeast. Beat in butter or margarine. Gradually add water to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes at medium speed of the electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add egg and ½ cup flour, or enough flour to make a thick batter. Beat at high speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.

Stir in remaining flour and spread batter evenly into two greased, 9-inch round pans or one 9-inch square pan.

Arrange sliced peaches on the cake batter. Combine the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle mixture over peaches. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk, about 1 hour.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Heat apricot jam in a 1-quart sauce pan and add food coloring, if using. Brush on warm peach cake