Happy Thanksgiving! And Happy National Cake Day!
Do you think it is a coincidence that National Cake Day is on November 26, right near Thanksgiving? I do not! When else would be a great time to overindulge in sweets as we overindulge in turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy…the list goes on.
National Cake Day has no “official” status to it, it’s just a fun tradition. The day is dedicated to an appreciation of this beloved dessert, which has been around since the Egyptians were making sweetened breads more than 3,000 years ago.
As I live in Maryland, I’d like to share with you our state dessert, known as Smith Island Cake. A tradition since the 1800s, it only gained fame when it was named the state dessert in 2008.
Smith Island is the only inhabited island in the Chesapeake Bay. Its population is tiny, around 250 people, but the island does have a restaurant, a church, and a school on it, and it is served by a daily ferry. A day trip to Smith Island is fascinating, as you learn how the basic needs of this tiny populace—such as grocery shopping and medical visits—are handled.
The women of Smith Island used to send cakes along with their husbands when the men went out for the autumn oyster harvest. These enormous round bundles of deliciousness have multiple, sliver-thin layers, usually eight of them. Each layer is accompanied by a layer of frosting.
The cake is made in a variety of flavors, such as chocolate, red velvet, and carrot. The most popular flavor is the “original” Smith Island cake, comprised of yellow layers interspersed with fudge frosting. It is delicious, but my favorite one is coconut.
Coconut Smith Island cake, yum! Photo from Smith Island Baking Company
The cakes are a bit pricey, but they are enormous and heavy. You can purchase one of these fantastic cakes at the Smith Island Bakery when you visit.
In 2009, the Smith Island Cake Company, located off the island in nearby Crisfield also began making and shipping these fantastic cakes nationwide.
Do you have a favorite cake? Comment and let me know.
Want Another Sneak Preview of The Madness of Moll Dyer?
I have finally finished the manuscript for The Madness of Moll Dyer and it is headed to my editor for review.
I probably shouldn’t say “finally,” since I wrote this 100K word book in 17 weeks flat, which is very fast for a slowpoke writer like me.
However, I wanted to be sure I could have the book ready for you on Moll Dyer Day, celebrated in Leonardtown, Maryland, in February. February roughly corresponds to the time that poor Moll was driven out of her home by angry colonists in 1697.
Because there is so little actually known about Moll, I had a lot of flexibility in developing what I thought may have been her life’s story.
Here’s another little tidbit for you, taken from Moll’s youth in Devon, England:
May 1641
At the market’s gated entrance, a boy around Moll’s age was standing next to a post with a large broad sheet nailed to it. “Come read about this opportunity,” he called out. “Father Andrew White writes of the successful beginnings of Lord Baltimore’s plantation in Maryland. Settlers needed for this colony. Indentured servant contracts being let by farms, ale house keepers, grocers, coopers, and barber-surgeons. No charge for your transportation there. ’Tis a free way to start a new life in a new place filled with riches.”
Moll’s mother stopped in front of the parchment and its large lettering. Moll knew that her mother couldn’t read well, but she had an amazing memory and had no doubt remembered everything the boy had said.
“If I hadn’t chosen William so quickly…” Mama’s expression was pensive. Moll felt a prickle of unease over it.
But her mother’s face quickly cleared and they marched on to the various stalls inside the crowded market, the boy’s voice fading into the background as he continued hawking the colony to all of the passers-by.
As always, Mama haggled with vendors over the prices of tomatoes and other vegetables—“These tiny things, so early in the season? I’ll pay you half!”—and housewares like a new deep pot—“This wouldn’t hold enough to feed my dog much less my family. Your price is robbery!”
Today, though, there was tension in the air among the sellers. Moll caught snippets of conversation that she didn’t understand.
“Earl of Strafford executed for what he did, wasn’t he? Like a lowly criminal. Though they say his trial was a spectacle.”
“But the Irish had to be brought to heel, din’they? Not civilized, they aren’t, what with their popery and refusal to conform to our good Church of England. What else could the lord deputy of Ireland do?” There was much nodding at that statement.
“He had a heavy hand, though. His death won’t be enough. They’s planning for rebellion up there, you mark my words. And then where will we be?” More nodding.
“Scotland and Ireland will be King Charles’s undoing.” Doleful tsking accompanied this statement.
Bored, Moll wandered off to let her mother conduct her business and gossip. There were so many interesting things to see and do at the weekly market. The constant hum of voices, periodically interrupted by an argument between seller and buyer, was a backdrop to the stalls draped in colorful cloths and pennants.
Every type of food, cloth, metalware, and animal could be found at the market. The Dyer family could afford little of it, she knew, but it was so much fun to go from stall to stall and touch it all.
Which usually earned Moll a rap on the knuckles from the seller, but she didn’t mind. It was worth it.
She usually had to dance around piles of manure dropped by dogs, fowl, lambs, and other animals, that was part of the fun, too. Moll had even invented her own version of Scotch-Hopper that enabled her to make a game of jumping over the odorous heaps.
The dung competed with the aromas of baked breads, fresh pies, and salted meats, creating a blended fragrance that could be found nowhere but at the market.
Sometimes there even wandering minstrels hoping for a coin or two for playing their songs. Moll couldn’t offer them coins, but she did attempt to sing along with them, usually to their amusement.
Today there was a hurdy-gurdy player, rattling off a ditty about a lost cow who went from town to town asking residents where its home was. None of the residents seemed to notice that the cow talked.
Moll loved the amusing story and pranced about before the troubadour, swinging her drab, patched skirt back and forth as she danced to the music the stringed instrument produced. The musician picked up the tempo as she continued her movements. Soon, Moll was jumping about furiously. She hoped her mother wasn’t noticing her, for she would be made to stop instantly. She was heady with the joy of simply being, twirling and cavorting until—
“Look at ‘er!” came a shout from a tanner selling leather goods, an old man who always stank of the urine used in his trade.
Moll paid no mind to who it was. She was happy that he had noticed her joyful abandon.
Suddenly, though, she on the ground. Her front teeth had bitten painfully into her lower lip and she tasted blood in her mouth. She rolled over slowly, a shadow looming over her and blocking the sun.
“Look at ‘er!” the tanner said again, his reeking over floating down and covering her like an unpleasant blanket. Moll realized that his previous tone had not been the friendly one she had thought it was.
He knelt down and peered into her face. His smell was almost unbearable as he stared at her with intense dark eyes set inside a fleshy face.
“Thought you were hiding from us, did you?” He held up a fist, in which he grasped her head covering. “Are you part of that rebellious lot up north?”
Moll was confused. What was the awful man talking about?
“Bah!” he said, his breath almost worse than the rest of him, if that were possible. “They’re sending little brats to sneak in their popish ways.”
She heard a shriek from some yards away, then she was being pulled to her feet. “How dare you molest my daughter, James Bowden?” Mama shouted at the tanner, shoving Moll behind her as she grabbed the coif and forehead cloth from the tanner. “You’re nothing but a brute, casting an innocent girl to the ground. Come, Moll.”
A few of the other market-goers were gathering around, murmuring among themselves.
“No mistaking the Irish in that one.”
Moll Dyer Launch Event
The always-lovely owners of Marie & Nash in Leonardtown will be hosting a book launch for The Madness of Moll Dyer on Saturday, February 21, 2026, during Moll Dyer Weekend. More details coming soon. Mark your calendar!
Click here to view my book signing lineup for the rest of the year.
Prefer Large Print?
Did you know that many of my titles are available in large print? The books in both my Royal Trades and the Heart of St. Mary’s County series are all available in large print at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your other favorite retail outlet. I’m getting others added as fast as I can.
