Sue Bartley's mom Hazel Lisman is pictured as a baby sitting on the knee of Bartley's great-great grandmother Sarah McAdams. Bartley's grandmother, Sarah Scheerbaum is standing behind Bartley's great-grandfather Peter George. The family's Lady Baltimore Cake has been baked by many generations.

These cake and icing recipes have been mother's favorite recipes for generations in my family.

The cake was first made by my great-great grandmother, Sarah McAdams, in the late 1880s for the thrashers when they came to harvest the grain in the fall.

Her daughter, Mary Ann George, made the cake for her husband and children weekly.

Sarah Scheerbaum, my grandmother, made the cake during the Depression of the 1930s for her large farm family and occasional farm hand for Sunday dessert.

My mother, Hazel Lisman, being a “modern” woman of the 1950s/60s usually used cake mixes but for the birthdays of her children; she would make this special “from scratch cake.”

To this day we all remember this cake fondly and when I make it for special occasions; we reminisce about past birthdays and our mother.

Sue Bartley

Middlesex Township

Lady Baltimore Cake1 cup butter2 cups sugar3 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour1 ¼ cups milk1 Tbs. baking powder½ tsp. salt1 tsp. vanilla and almond extracts mixed6 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Icing3 Tbs flour1 cup milk½ cup margarine½ cup Crisco1/8 tsp. salt1 cup granulated sugar1 tsp. vanilla extract and almond extract mixedCook flour and milk until thick, then let it cool.Beat in margarine, Crisco and salt until creamy.Add sugar and extracts and beat well until very fluffy.Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 8-inch pans.Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk.Add extracts and mix well. Fold in beaten egg whites.Divide evenly between three pans and bake 12 to 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.Cool in pans for 10 minutes then remove.Cover with icing.