"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested" Sir Francis Bacon
Mary Todd Lincoln's White Cake
The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming is chock full of many interesting little tidbits of trivia, historical details, photos, and artifacts. You can literally spend hours discovering the treasures stored on these pages. However, since this is the food page, here is Mrs. Lincoln's recipe for White Cake.
Abraham said, "Mary's white cake is the best I've ever eaten." She sometimes served the cake with strawberries, but never served it frosted.
I have sampled this recipe and it is delicious. Enjoy!
! 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 the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift togethr flour and baking powder; remove 2 Tablespoons and set aside. Add sifted ingredients, alternating with milk, to creamed mixture. Stir in vanilla and almond extract. Combine almonds with rserved flour and add to batter.
Beat egg whites until stiff; add salt. Fold into the 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 and finish cooling on rack.
Lip Fudge
Okay. This isn't technically food. But it is yummy and it is chocolate, but not for consumption. I decided to make my nieces "spa in a bag" for holiday gifts and found this nifty little book at my local library: makeup: things to make and do by Jennifer Traig. I found the recipe for lip fudge and it sounded pretty yummy. It is made with cocoa butter, a little cosmetic grade beeswax, some vitamin e oil, and melted chocolate chips. Lucky me, there were enough left over to make a little pot for myself. Today I came to work with chocolate fudge on my lips. It felt rather decadent.
Hello, Cupcake!
It all started when my friend Christi posted a photo of her pumpkin cupcakes on Facebook. Are these not the cutest things ever? She said she found the directions in Hello, Cupcake by Tuck and Richardson. After I went to the county catalog and put a hold on the book. (All the copies are checked out-wonder why?) I went to the Hello Cupcake website to view more of these yummy creations.
Want to know the crazy part about all of this? I don't like cake - well not the cakes made from those boxes you buy at the grocery store, or even the cakes you buy at the grocery store. It has to be homemade and "interesting" to tempt my taste buds. I dislike frosting even more than cake. That butter/shortening/cream cheese greasey-sugar mixture feels like an oil slick on my tongue.
But the cupcakes are so cute!