Maryland’s culinary story isn’t just about crab cakes and Old Bay – it also has a sweet side worth celebrating. Tucked into family cookbooks and bakery showcases are desserts that generations have cherished, each one carrying a taste of local tradition.
Across the Eastern Shore and in the heart of Baltimore, these homegrown treats reflect immigrant influences, regional ingredients, and the creativity of bakers who shaped Maryland’s dessert heritage.
1. Smith Island Cake: Maryland’s Official State Dessert
Yellow cake layers stacked impossibly thin – sometimes up to 15 of them – with rich chocolate fudge frosting between each one. That’s the magic of Smith Island Cake.
Born in the isolated Chesapeake Bay community, where watermen’s wives created sturdy desserts that could survive the journey to their husbands’ workboats…