Recipe: Creole Beauty Cake

This was the fabulous three-layer cake I baked for Daughter C's and Mr. Big Food's birthday. I didn't take a photograph of a slice-- sorry-- but the alternating pink and white with cherry layers give it the look of an extra-special effort cake baked by someone the baker loves.

I used pecans instead of almonds (who makes a birthday cake for a couple of Southerners with almonds?), and I greased and flowered the pans. I frosted it with a cherry adaptation of Orange Butter Frosting.

CREOLE BEAUTY CAKE 

2/3 C shortening (softened if necessary)
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp almond extract
1 ½ C sugar
A few drops red food coloring (to get a pink coloring)
¾ C chopped blanched almonds
3 C sifted cake flour
3 ½ tsp baking powder
1 C milk
4 egg whites, beaten fluffy (not stiff) [Yolks can be used in frosting recipe. See above.]
½ C maraschino cherries, drained and cut
Icing, white, or colored and flavored as desired (see recipes in this section)

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream together shortening, salt, and extract, add sugar gradually, and cream well until all sugar has been added. Sift together flour and baking powder 3 times, and add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Fold in beaten egg whites. To 2/3 of the batter, add red food coloring to color batter pink, and fold in almonds. Pour into 2 greased 8 inch layer cake pans. To remaining batter fold in cherries, and pour into a third greased 8 inch layer cake pan. Bake 30 minutes or until completely done in center. Fill and ice with cherry layer in the middle.