MARY TODD LINCOLN's White Cake

 "Clouds and darkness surround us, yet Heaven is just, and the day of triumph will surely come, " -Mary Todd Lincoln, Letter to James Gordon Bennett, publisher of the New York Herald, October 25, 1861. 

 Mary Todd Lincoln (Dec 13 1818-July 16-1882) loved to entertain, so they write about here. She  grew up in affluence, but her mother died in 1825, and a new stepmother, who really seemed to dislike the Todd children, married her father the year after. Mary and her siblings were  not too happy with her either.

 In 1836 she followed her sisters to Springfield, anything to get away from home, where she found acceptance with the social whirl. Dance, and parties and frivolities.  Abraham Lincoln was in a law practise with her cousin.Eventually they got together after a few years of unrest. Mary was a superb hostess and she always spoiled her guests with rare dishes and lovely sweets. I would think that she was serving fancy dishes to her guests, when the soldiers were starving.......However,  one of the sweets she served to friends was this: White Cake.......

 The original recipe calls for almonds, but since I dislike nuts I  didn't put them in the batter. It is more like a tea cake. I put the rounds together with jam/preserves. Not sure if Mary Todd did that, but I thought it added to the look. You can  make it that way, or keep it plain. .

 1 cup chopped almonds, 1 cup butter (marg), 2 cups sugar, 3 cups flour, 3 tsp baking powder,1 cup milk ( almond milk), 6 egg whites, 1 tsp vanilla, confectioner's sugar....

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a round bundt pan

 Cream the butter or marg, and sugar together. 

 Sift the flour and baking powder before adding to the butter mix.

 Add in the milk and the almonds and mix well.

 Beat the egg whites till stiff and fold into batter.

 Then finally stir in the vanilla extract. If you don't have vanilla, you can use maple sryup or regular syrup. Does the same thing. And CHEAPER!

 Bake 1 hour for bundt pan. 20-25 minutes for regular pan.

 Turn out onto a wire rack and cool.

 Once cool you can dust with confectioner's sugar. Or bake in two round pans, and slather jam in the centre and then dust with the icing sugar.

 If you find it daunting to make a cake from scratch then try a good store bought mix.  No one will know.........

 Mary Todd seemed to have a difficult life before and after the death of Lincoln. Three of her sons  died: W. Wallace  1862, Tad 1871,Edward 1850. Only Robert Todd lived till 1926. He was the 35th US War Secretary, but he never sought to be president.  He was also ambitious and kind of nasty to his mother....

 In her lifetime,  the press made fun of Mary Todd. They didn't understand her style or ways. She spoke her mind no matter what.  She saw so much heartache  that years later it was surmised she suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Her son Robert had her committed  to Bellevue insane asylum for about 3 months. Everyone said she was a lunatic. NUTS. Some said she heard voices.... It was even hinted that Robert wanted to take over her affairs. Eventually she was released to the care of her sister, Elizabeth. She and Robert mended their rocky relationship, but it was never the same for Mary Todd. She died in seclusion.

 “I would rather marry a good man, a man of mind, with a hope and bright prospects ahead for position, fame and power than to marry all the houses, gold and bones in the world.” ― Mary Todd Lincoln

Photographs 2018