Reach for the sky.

What was the biggest cake of the Classical Period of American cake baking? Doubtlessly, that distinction belonged to the giant Lady Baltimore, a three-layer, cherry-and-fig flavored, nut-covered behemoth that hailed from Charleston, South Carolina. Depending on how thick the buttercream was piled on, these cakes could be anything up to ten inches tall. Why didn’t South Carolinians of the day go any higher? Perhaps because under their primitive belief system, they feared that adding another layer would make a tower so tall it would tear open the heavens, incurring the wrath of their vengeful animal gods. Or the cakes would have flopped over in the afternoon heat. Either explanation works for me.