Mary Ada Marshall Oral History of Smith Island Cake

Mary Ada Marshall Oral History of Smith Island Cake

Mary Ada Marshall

Oral History interview by Cliff Murphy & Elaine Eff of Mary Ada Marshall & Kristin Manzo discussing Smith Island Cake

Mary Ada Marshall

Special Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD)

University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD)

April 16, 2009

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English

Audio

Maryland Traditions records, Maryland Traditions Archives, Collection 120

Oral History Interview

6:21

Mary Ada Marshall states that “one of the things a woman would want to achieve before she got married was to be able to make a layer cake. It sorta [sic] became a challenge as to how many layers and how thin you could get them and who could bake the most layers on a cake.”

Marshall notes that that she “never did pay much attention to” the growing number of cake layers and that the “layers were baked individually – it just became something we learned to do pretty much on our own.”
Marshall states that “most of the women on the island can, there are some that can’t. Some never master it, some just don’t have the patience or the time or the want to. I take pride in what I do.”
Marshall says that “the Smith Island cake becoming the state dessert was absolutely overwhelming. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that something we baked here on the island would become famous. I guess it’s just the uniqueness of them.”
Marshall concludes, “It’s been a delight...we didn’t really think we had something special but evidently we did.”

Cliff Murphy & Elaine Eff

Mary Ada Marshall & Kristin Manzo

Tylerton, Smith Island, MD