We ran in to this cake on a trip through the south a few years ago, North and South Carolina especially. It’s super good and not like anything you can get around here. It’s everywhere in Charleston.

We made it when we got home and it’s a lot of work. It came out well despite the difference in flours between the Carolinas and here. It’s the texture I think - way different from French textures we get around here. Surprising how similar it is to a cake I made from Shirley Corrihor’s recipe from the Bakewise book.

My mother's Italian cream cake was legendary.

I've made it a few times, but as you say, it's a big production. Also it's a big cake--three full layers--so it's best when you're serving a crowd. I rarely do that any more.

Now I'm hungry for it, which is a problem since I've really cut back on my carbs lately. Not sure how long I can keep to that resolution, because Italian cream cake is a pretty good metaphor for my ancestral cuisine.

Good to know. I think My Favorite Redhead and my fist trip when we retire this summer will be Charleston. Never been there, always wanted to go there and the low country between there and Hilton Head.