Tag Archives: Cake Walk

Annual meeting, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Birmingham Historical Society, Cake & Pie Contest, CakeWalk, Favorite Pie & Cake Contest, Food History

And the Winners Are…

Thank you to all who shared cakes, stories, and recipes at our Annual Meeting last night. While our judges selected winners in five categories, all participants received a BLUE RIBBON for sharing a cake, as well as much appreciation from all those who attended the meeting and were able to taste them! There was a big variety and remarkably, no two cakes were alike.

Special thanks also goes to our two judges, Susan Swagler and Pam Lolley for a difficult job selecting winners. Susan is a Food, Books & Lifestyle Writer and a founding member & past president of Les Dames d’Escoffier International Birmingham and you can follow her at Savor.blog. Pam is retired from twenty years in the Southern Living test kitchen, a free lance cook, and also a member of Les Dames D’Escoffier. Thank you, judges!

Clockwise from top left on full screen: Potato Caramel Cake (most unusual cake), Caramel Cake (most vintage cake), Napoleon (most beautiful cake), Grand Aunt Mrytle’s Lane Cake (best memory cake), Miss Tinsley’s Sour Cream Pound Cake (best overall cake)
  • Most Unusual Cake: Potato Caramel Cake (Alleen Cater) – secret ingredient, mashed potatoes! Pam Lolley said her 20 years in the Southern Living test kitchen, she’d never heard of using mashed potatoes in a cake and it was delicious!
  • Most Vintage Cake: Caramel Cake (Elizabeth Hester) – this brought back wonderful childhood memories for the judges and was considered a standard in most southern kitchens
  • Most Beautiful Cake: Napoleon (Vasilisa Strelnikova) – the judges appreciated the care with which this cake was decorated and said the baby’s breath was a beautiful addition
  • Best Overall Cake: Miss Tinsley’s Sour Cream Pound Cake (Wilson Green) – the judges agreed that you can’t beat a good pound cake and this was delicious. One BHS attendee stated that Myrtle Tinsley was one of her church members and friend, a former schoolteacher, and a dynamite cook!
  • Best Memory Statement: Grand Aunt Mrytle’s Lane Cake (Don Cosper) -the secret ingredient was a cup of whiskey, somewhat scandalous among these Baptist bakers! This original cake recipe is one of the oldest in Alabama and was immortalized in To Kill a Mockingbird.

All the cakes were accompanied by childhood stories and we hope that one day the Birmingham Historical Society can assemble these recipes and stories into a book!

Annual meeting, Birmingham Civil Rights, Birmingham Historical Society, Cake & Pie Contest, CakeWalk, civil rights, Favorite Pie & Cake Contest, Food History, Meetings, Membership, Research

History of the Cake Walk

While most of us know a cake walk to be a joyful celebration where the best bakers have an opportunity to show off their skills, it wasn’t always that way! In fact, the cake walk had its origins in Afro-American history:

The cakewalk was a pre-Civil War dance originally performed by slaves on plantation grounds. The uniquely American dance was first known as the “prize walk”; the prize was an elaborately decorated cake. Hence, “prize walk” is the original source for the phrases “takes the cake” and “cakewalk.”

From NPR: The Extraordinary Story of Why a Cakewalk Wasn’t Always Easy

The dance soon became a ragtime favorite, with many musical versions available including the sheet music below. So when you circle that cake table at Birmingham Historical Society’s annual meeting on February 27th, consider its origins!

Webster’s Dictionary defines it as “a black American entertainment having a cake as prize for the most accomplished steps and figures in walking; a stage dance developed from walking steps and figures typically involving a high prance with backward tilt; an easy task.” 

The Cakewalk seems to have begun in the days of slavery, when black folks strutted along in a fanciful manner in imitation of formal white dancing. Supposedly the name comes from the custom of the master awarding a cake to the couple who put on the best performance. The dance came back around in the twentieth century when white folks started to imitate the black version.

From Mary Miley’s Roaring Twenties, “Just What is a Cake Walk”?

Join us for the BHS cakewalk on February 27th. And bring your favorite childhood cake. More information on when and where HERE.

Annual meeting, Birmingham Historical Society, Cake & Pie Contest, Favorite Pie & Cake Contest, Meetings, Membership, Trustees

Cake Walk is BACK!

This popular annual BHS event is finally back. Calling all Cakes! What’s your childhood favorite? 

Is it the Southern Living all time favorite, Hummingbird Cake? 7 Layer (difficult to assemble) Caramel Cake?  Maybe Lady Baltimore, Coca Cola, or even a 7-Up Bundt?  We KNOW you have a favorite—so it’s time to enter this year’s  Birmingham Historical Society Heritage Cake Contest!

Monday, February 27th at Birmingham Botanical Gardens Auditorium, 4PM

It’s another Cake Walk into the Past but this year, we’re featuring your favorite childhood cakes.

The rules are simple:

1. The Birmingham Historical Society annual meeting is Monday, February 27—it’s also Cake Contest Day.

2. Bake your Childhood Favorite Cake and bring it to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens’ Auditorium by 4 p.m. February 27 for judging

3. Be sure to fill out the form (see below) and bring it along.

4. Remember, bake ANY cake that’s your official childhood favorite!!

5. We’ll serve all the scrumptious cakes after our meeting and speaker

(and announce the winners too!)

Judging Categories

—Best Overall Cake

—Most Vintage Recipe

—Most Unusual Cake

—Most Beautiful Cake

—Best Memory Statement

(Click HERE or on form below to enlarge and print)