Bake the cake that wowed Abe Lincoln

I still remember cutting George Washington and Abraham Lincoln silhouettes out of black paper to decorate the windows and bulletin boards in our one-room schoolhouse. Sure, February also meant we would decorate with red hearts, but we honored the two presidents long before there was a Presidents Day. We celebrated Lincoln’s birthday Feb. 12 and Washington’s on Feb. 22. My brother would get out his Lincoln Logs and build a small cabin that we took to school. The teacher had a small plastic tree that she would decorate with candy cherries. These stayed at the front of the room all month.

In Jean Anderson’s “Recipes from Restored Villages” (Doubleday and Co., 1975), I found Mary Todd Lincoln’s white almond cake. This was among the recipes shared from New Salem State Park in Illinois. Abraham Lincoln traveled much and often ate at rooming houses. He was unconcerned about food. He ate what was prepared for him. However, he liked his meats well-done and was quite fond of a meringue-topped tart lemon custard that was served in a small hotel in Salem.

The lemon custard and the white almond cake both were favorites during Lincoln’s Illinois days and later at the White House. The almond cake recipe was from a caterer named Giron and had been shared with Mary’s family in Lexington, Ky. When Mary first prepared it, Lincoln said it was the best he had ever eaten. Reading through the recipe, you can imagine hand-grinding the nuts, one at a time, on a small grater. Creaming the butter with the sugar would have been a painstaking task, not to mention whipping the egg whites by hand in a deep bowl. Make the cake with your food processor and mixer and still enjoy a delicious treat. This would make a very special Valentine’s dessert. Make it with love.

MARY TODD LINCOLN’S WHITE ALMOND CAKE

1/4 pound blanched whole almonds (approximately)

3 cups sifted cake flour (or all-purpose flour, removing 2 tablespoons for each cup)

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 pound unsalted butter, softened

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

6 egg whites

1/8 teaspoon salt

Grate enough almonds to total 1 cup exactly (do not pack the nuts to measure). Use a food processor or do a few at a time in a blender. Set the nuts aside. Sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside. Sifting is preferable to stirring, as it gives more volume to the flour. Cream the butter until very light, then add 1-3/4 cups sugar gradually, creaming all the while until fluffy. Add the dry ingredients alternately with milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in the grated almonds, the vanilla and almond extract.

With clean bowl and beaters, whip the egg whites with the salt and remaining 1/4 cup sugar to soft peaks, then fold gently but thoroughly into the batter. Pour into a well-buttered and floured 9-inch tube pan and bake in a 350-degree oven about 1 hour or until the cake begins to pull from sides of pan and a finger, when pressed lightly into the top of the cake, leaves an imprint that vanishes slowly. Cool cake upright in its pan on a wire rack 10 minutes, then loosen the cake around edges of the pan with a spatula and turn out on a rack. Cool thoroughly before cutting. The cake is very rich, much like a pound cake, so it needs no frosting.

Note: To blanch almonds that have the skins on, pour boiling water just to cover in a bowl. Let stand for just 1 minute. Drain. Rinse under cold water. Drain again. Pat dry and slip the skins off.

Servings: 12

Julia Helvey, a longtime Columbia resident and professional home economist, has been cooking since childhood. Reach her via email at [email protected].

Reach Julia Helvey at [email protected].

baking with Bill & Sheila

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