Every spring and summer, almost like clockwork, I receive multiple recipe requests for the Baltimore peach cake. Linda Terlizzi from Hanover, Pennsylvania, was one of several readers looking for the recipe this year. She said from the time she was a young child in the 1950s, her family loved the fresh peach cake made at the New System Bakery in Hampden. The bakery has since closed, and Terlizzi said she has yet to find a peach cake that equals the one from there.

Peach cake is one of those uniquely Baltimore things, like coddies, that live long in people’s memories. The true Baltimore peach cake is always a yeast-based cake, and most neighborhood bakeries make it as a large sheet cake rather than as a round cake. That way it can easily be sliced into nice, big squares and maximize the amount of peaches per slice.

Peach cake does not hold up particularly well. The perishable nature of the peach means the cake is best served the day it is made. For most home cooks, that will mean making a smaller cake than the bakeries make.

Because of the popularity of this cake, The Baltimore Sun has printed the recipe for the classic peach cake several times over the years. The recipe below appeared in the Recipe Finder column nearly 20 years ago. It came from “Treasured Recipes Honoring Maryland’s 350th Anniversary” published by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and shared by Lynne Berger of Pikesville, Maryland.

So now that peaches are plentiful in markets and roadside stands, pick up some luscious, ripe ones and make this cake as a special treat for family and friends. Nothing screams summer like a slice of this timeless Baltimore specialty.

Requests

Robin Roettger of Baltimore is looking for a salad dressing recipe from the old Bixby’s in Towson. She believes the dressing had a buttermilk base and about five other ingredients.

Leslie Hayes, formerly from Baltimore and now living in the United Kingdom, is in search of the recipe for the sticky buns that were served at Camp Louis in the mountains of Maryland. Having attended camp there for many wonderful summers, she said it would be a real treat to have the recipe, scaled to family size, of course.