Editing Smith Island, Maryland (section)

=={{anchor|Smith Island Cake}} Smith Island cake==
[[File:Smith island cake2009.jpg|thumb|Smith Island cake with fresh strawberries on the side]]
Smith Island traditions include a region-specific [[cuisine]], its most famous dish being the Smith Island cake, somewhat resembling the [[Prinzregententorte]], with eight to fifteen thin layers alternating with cooked chocolate frosting.<ref>''Adventure Guide to the Chesapeake Bay'' by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers, Stillman Rogers page 435 Hunter Publishing, Inc, 2001 {{ISBN|1-55650-889-1}}</ref>

Beginning in the 1800s, Smith Islanders would send these cakes with the watermen on the autumn oyster harvest. The bakers began using [[fudge]] instead of [[buttercream]] frostings, as cakes frosted with fudge lasted much longer than cakes with other types of frosting.<ref>[http://smithislandcake.com/about.php smithislandcake.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718092426/http://smithislandcake.com/about.php |date=2012-07-18 }} The story behind our Smith Island Cakes. Accessed July 6, 2012.</ref>

Scratch recipes typically involve [[evaporated milk]],<ref name="VisitMD">{{cite web | title=Smith Island Layer Cake Recipe – Two Ways | website=VisitMaryland.org | url=https://www.visitmaryland.org/article/Smith-Island-Layer-Cake-Recipe | access-date=2021-08-19}}</ref> while recipes based on commercial cake mixes add [[condensed milk]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.saveur.com/how-smith-island-cake-got-its-stripes |title=How Maryland's Official State Cake Got Its Stripes |website=Saveur.com |date=4 March 2016 |access-date=12 February 2019}}</ref>

The most common recipes yield yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but other flavor variations include coconut, fig, strawberry, lemon, and orange.  Smith Island cake is baked for any occasion, a dessert that needs no holiday.<ref>[http://www.marylandtraditions.org/smith.htm Smith Island Layer Cake] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929195940/http://www.marylandtraditions.org/smith.htm |date=2007-09-29 }} from ''Maryland Traditions''.</ref>

Smith Island cake is also baked as the feature prize for a local fundraising tradition called a [[Cakewalk (carnival game)|cake walk]], which is a game played like [[musical chairs]] where donated cakes serve as the prize.  Great attention is paid to the perfection of the pencil-thin layers that form the distinctive cake.<ref>[http://www.originalsmithislandcakeco.com/smith-island-history smith island cake history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116190602/http://www.originalsmithislandcakeco.com/smith-island-history |date=2011-11-16 }} from Original Smith Island Cake Company Website. Accessed October 30, 2011.</ref>  Before each round, the prize Smith Island cake at stake is cut in half and shown to the players, who pay to participate in the game.  A poorly stacked Smith Island cake may not attract many players and, as a result, not raise as much money as a more perfectly executed cake.<ref>''An Island Out of Time: A Memoir of Smith Island in the Chesapeake'' by Tom Horton, Page 10 W. W. Norton & Company, 1996 {{ISBN|0-393-03938-2}}</ref>

Smith Island cake became [[List of Maryland state symbols|the officially designated state dessert of Maryland]] on April 24, 2008.<ref>[http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0408/514156.html Smith Island Cake Now Maryland's Official Dessert] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080502150813/http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0408/514156.html |date=2008-05-02 }} from NewsChannel 8 1:38 pm Thu April 24, 2008 – Annapolis, Md. Accessed online April 26, 2008</ref>