Lincoln Cake - Recipe & a little history

(please excuse the photo...rush job...bad lighting...etc...)

A friend of mine needed a Lincoln Cake for
  a large debate event.  She checked with several bakeries, but the icing was the deal breaker...my guess is because it had candied fruit in it.

Just in case you haven't noticed, candied fruit is a little hard to come by in June.

She asked me if I could do it...well, you know where this is going...

She gave me a recipe and then I did a little research about this cake on my own.
Kim O'Donnel, author of A Mighty Appetite column of the Washington Post.com, had some interesting information:

The story behind the cake, says Newman, goes something like this: Back in 1825, the esteemed Marquis de Lafayette was paying a visit to Lexington, Ky., home to the upper-crust, slave-owning Todd family. In honor of the auspicious occasion, a French baker, by the name of Monsieur Giron, was commissioned to bake a cake. The almond-scented vanilla cake was such a hit, says Newman (who credits “The Lincoln Table” by Lincoln impersonator Donna McCreary for the cake story), that the Todd women “begged him for the recipe which became part of the family’s repertoire.”


Apparently, the white cake was part of Mary’s seduction tactics while she was courting one Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Ill. in late 1839. Did Abe like the cake? “Well, he did marry her," says Newman. The couple tied the knot in 1842 in Springfield.


Newman believes that the cake remained a mainstay in the Todd Lincoln household in Springfield and even when the family moved to the White House in 1861. “She [Mary] had to do all her own cooking in Springfield,“ explains Newman. “Lincoln was poor, so they couldn't afford servants, and she came from a family that had slaves. So she had to learn how to cook on her own and take care of her house on her own.”
To read more about Newman's book, click here.


The Recipe:

1 C butter
2 C sugar
3 C flour
1 C milk
1 C finely chopped almonds
3 t. baking powder
Whites of 6 eggs
1 t vaniila

Cream butter and sugar, sift flour and baking powder together 3 times, and add to butter and sugar, alternating with the milk.

Stir in the almonds and beat well.
(Just wanted you to see how finely chopped the almonds were...can you imagine doing this by hand?!?  Hats off to you Mrs. Lincoln!)

 Then fold in the stiffly beaten whites and the vanilla. Pour into well greased and floured pan. Can be large tube pan or 2 9x 1 1/2 inch round pans. Bake at 375 degrees for one hour or the cake tests done. The tube pan can take longer. Turn out on wire rack and cool. The tube pan makes a large cake. Then frost with white icing.

Frosting for Lincoln's Cake

2 C sugar
2 egg whites, beaten stiff with pinch of salt
1/2 C diced candied pineapple
1 C water
1 t vanilla
1/2 C crystallized cherries, cut in halves

Boil sugar and water until syrup spins a 5-inch thread (242 degrees on your candy thermometer.) Fold in slowly to the well beaten whites adding a tablespoon at a time until 4 have been used. Now add the remaining syrup slowly pouring it in a thin stream. Beat by hand until all is used and the mixture stands in peaks. Add the flavoring and fold in pineapple and cherries. Spread on the cake.

How to Make Crystallized Cherries

How to Make Candied Pineapple

Linking to:
Prairie Story Recipe Swap
Its a Keeper Thursday

How to Make Candied Pineapple

As I mentioned yesterday, I needed some crystallized cherries and candied pineapples for the frosting for a Lincoln Cake.

Being that it's June, candied fruit is a little hard impossible to come by in the grocery stores.

My only quick option was to make my own.

After scoping out recipes on the Internet, I came up with my own version for about 2 cups of candied pineapple.

Here it goes:

2 (20 oz) cans of pineapple rings in juice

4 cups of sugar

1 cup water

2/3 cup of light corn syrup

In a pan large enough for the rings to fit loosely in one layer without touching, (I used a roasting pan over two burnerss,) combine the juice from the pineapples, sugar, water and corn syrup.  Bring to a boil.  Carefully add pineapple rings to liquid.  It will be hot!!  Bring back to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Occasionally turn the rings over and move around pan. 

You will want to keep an eye on this!

Sadly, I burned my first batch.  I thought I could lie down for just a little while....

Cook the pineapple until the rings are translucent...about 45 minutes.  If the syrup begins to brown, you've cooked it too long...just keep an eye on it.

Turn the heat off and let the rings cool in the pan.

After completely cooled, bring to a boil again.  Let cool in the pan.

One more time, bring to a boil, let cool a little, then drain pineapple. 

Lay pineapple rings out on top of wire rack placed on top of aluminum foil lined cookie sheet.  (This helps with clean up!)

Then place in a 200 degree oven for 30 minutes or so.  Turn oven off and let pineapples dry out.  I reapeated this a few times.  Drying time will take 24 - 48 hours.  Drying in oven should help speed this along.

When dry, chop pineapple rings and store in plastic container.

These will keep for months in fridge!

Want more info on the Lincoln Cake?  Click here.

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Smiles!