Monday, October 24, 2011

Cake Ladies - Celebrating a Southern Tradition


by Jodi Rhoden

This beuutiful cookbook not only has loads of cake photos and recipes to try, but also a bit of history of some of the south's best cake ladies.  No less than 15 of them!

These ladies are known in their communities, for their cake baking skills, and are called upon often to contribute their specialty cakes for momentous occasions.  Evofery celebration in the south calls for a cake of some kind to mark the occasion.

Being from the south myself, I can confirm that the local cake ladies seem to have the best recipes for Pound Cake, Pineapple Upside Cake, Lemon Cake, Italian Cream Cake, Caramel Cake and Carrot Cake -- a few of the recipes featured in "Cake Ladies".

Jodi Rhoden started out learning to bake from her mother in Georgia but not really getting into the joy of it until she was out on her own in Boston where she learned to bake artisan breads, branching out later to include wedding cakes for her friends .  She eventually started a baking blog and it wasn't long until she knew she wanted to write a cookbook about other cake ladies.  She searched out the "back roads of the south" to find other cake ladies like herself and started writing their stories down.

It is well-written with a little history, traditional southern cake recipes and gorgeous  photos of cakes, cake ladies, and their countryside.

"Cake Ladies" is a must have for southern ladies or just anyone wanting more good and rich southern cake recipes!