Chow Down on Chesapeake Cuisine Cakes of the Chesapeake Bay One savory and one sweet, the Chesapeake Bay is known for two types of cakes: crab and Smith Island. If you’d like, you can arrange a cake-and-cake dinner and dessert. That’s a feast you won’t find anywhere other than Maryland. SMITH ISLAND CAKE There’s also the sweet of Smith Island Cake: the official state dessert of Maryland and the perfect way to wrap up any iconic Chesapeake Bay meal. Smith Island Cake got its start way back in the 1800s on, you guessed it, Smith Island . While many of the town’s men would sail out and harvest oysters, their wives would whip up these 10-layer desserts made of pancake-thin yellow cake and decadent chocolate frosting. When the men headed out for the autumn oyster harvest, they brought along Smith Island Cakes to eat during the journey as a reminder of their lives back home. If you want the most authentic cakes around, make the pilgrimage to Smith Island itself to get them straight from the source at Smith Island Bakery . CRAB CAKES Historians can trace the origins of a crab cake-like dish back to the Native American tribes that lived on Chesapeake Bay. In the hundreds of years since then, many variations of crab cakes have popped up. Some include a cream sauce, many include Old Bay seasoning, and the best of the bunch include handpicked, jumbo-lump, Maryland blue crab meat. As for where to get the best crab cakes in the state, well, that’s a bit of a debate. In Baltimore , there’s Johnny’s in Roland Park or Faidley’s Seafood in historical Lexington Market — a Maryland legacy known for its large, no-frills crab cakes. Head to Grasonville for award-winning crab cakes at The Narrows Restaurant . Or enjoy an order of jumbo-lump crab cakes at Boatyard Bar & Grill in Annapolis , where the interior is decked out like an old yacht. You’ll simply have to try them all and decide which one is your personal favorite! Smith Island Cake Crab Cake from Johnny’s 58 DESTINATION MARYLAND From top: Somerset County Tourism; Will Napier
Maryland Official Visitors Guide 2024 Maryland Official Visitors Guide: Page 58
