Betty Crocker Is No Mary Todd Lincoln

I attended a family BBQ this afternoon in honor of my dear husband's impending 32nd birthday, and, like so many other birthday parties in so many other places today and through the ages, there was a sheet cake baked for the occassion. Everyone gathers around these mundane requirements, candles are lit, an awkward song is sung awkwardly (especially when the honoree is a fully grown 32 year old man), and then everyone gets a piece (trust me, a host is acutely annoyed if you try to refuse--afterall: who wants leftover sheet cake hanging around their house?). I think we can all agree that these cakes, made from adding an egg and some water to the contents of a little box and then slathering with waxy-tasting icing, are pretty disappointing. I mean, why not bake a real cake, from a real recipe, using real ingredients? Its not really that hard or time consuming, comparatively. I say if you're going to go to the trouble of gathering around it, lighting it ablaze and singing over it, all in honor of a so-called loved one, you should put some effort into it: make it something notable!

In that spirit, and the spirit of my current Mary Todd Lincoln obsession, I am posting the following recipe from MTL's actual home cook book: a recipe she actually used, for a cake that Abraham Lincoln regularly ate! My husband's actual birthday is this Wednesday, and I am planning on trying it out for the occassion: a real cake for a real man! just like the 16th president of the United States used to eat! W-O-W!

Mary Todd Lincoln's White Cake

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup chopped blanched almonds
• 6 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy.Sift together flour and baking powder; remove 2 tablespoons & set aside. Add sifted ingredients, alternating with milk, to creamed mixture. Stir in vanilla and almond extract. Combine almonds w/reserved flour & add to batter.

Beat egg whites until stiff; add salt. Fold into batter. Pour into greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 375 degrees until a cake tester comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool 5 to 10 minutes; remove from pan & finish cooling on rack.

Happy birthday!