I realize that living here in DC for only 11 years makes me a regional newby. Is anybody familiar with this cake, and/or have a recipe? Is it good?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/31cak...Cake&st=nyt

Last May's issue of Saveur had a recipe for it, I have not tried their version, but what I had at the home of a Smith Island expat seemed similar and was quite delicious.

Looks like a dobos/dobosh torte to me.

Mr M & I went to Smith Island a couple years back for a long weekend vacation & had Smith Island cake at the little diner next to the pier. Me, I'm not a huge fan of yellow cake (my favorite cakes are the more European heavy crumb style), but it's not bad.

You know those bumper stickers, "Proud to Be An American"? Right now, I'm ashamed to be a Marylander.

I made it once from some recipe I got on some B&B site or something. I was unimpressed. Essentially, I poured regular old yellow cake batter into 8" pans, but only about a quarter inch at a time, so what I ended up with were more pancakey layers than cake layers. Glued it all together with some really average frosting and the recipe went straight in the bin. I'm willing to believe it was my recipe, so don't all y'all Marylanders be shy if you think you can improve my luck.

I've lived here for nearly 27 years and never heard of it. Def. some sort of MD regional thing. Looks a lot like Berger cookies stacked on top of each other though.

I would be too, if that were the only recipe I had seen for the Smith Island Cake. The ones I've seen have no peanut butter or Reese's; the recipe and assembly also reminds me of the dobosch torte (or however you want to spell it) I saw something recently on the tube about the cake, but I can't recall if it was a PBS show with John Shields or something else. But I did recall wondering how this could be up for the designation of Maryland's "Official Dessert" without ever hearing of this cake, nor even knowing that there was a place called Smith Island in Maryland. I assumed when I heard of it that it must be near Tighlman Island.

There is a ferry that runs from St. Mary's county (Pt. Lookout) for a quick day trip if you don't want to spend the night or go all the way to Crisfield to catch a ferry. Smith Island is a tiny, disappearing island with a shrinking population. They speak another language really. It is very isolated and the kids take a ferry to Crisfield to attend school. The few people that remain are dedicated to preserving their heritage. We had a very good day trip there. Got off the ferry, rented bikes to explore a bit, avoided the large restaurant (went to the little store that has a porch overlooking the marshes and had soft shell crabs and tried the cake). Not being a cake lover, I remember that it was good, but nothing that I needed to try again.
http://www.smithisland.org/

Smith Island Cake in today's Post