Restoration of the Lincoln "Courting Couch"

[Donna McCreary]

According to The Presidents' Cookbook by Poppy Cannon and Patricia Brooks (1968), you 96-year-old friend is correct. "Several of Lincoln's biographers mentioned the burnt sugar cake Mary Todd prepared for him when he came courting. Many recipes purport to be Mary's own. This one, we are pleased to say, actually can be traced down through the Todd family to Mary Hosford, a granddaughter of one of Mary's cousins."

In short, the ingredients are sugar, caramelized sugar syrup, egg whites, butter, baking powder, cake flour, salt, and vanilla. The finished cake is then frosted with an icing of melted butter, dark brown sugar, milk, powdered sugar, and optional black walnuts.

Mr. Lincoln's favorite cake from his wife, however, was reported to be her Vanilla Almond Cake with a Candied Fruit Frosting.

Check LINCOLN'S TABLE for more about this statement. (about 10 pages worth of information) I am convinced that Lincoln was a gracious cake eater, and his favorite piece of cake was the last one he ate. According to the earliest writings on the subject, his favorite was a Pecan Cake.
By the way, there is no historical documentation for the Candied Fruit Frosting -- someone attached it to the Vanilla Almond Cake in the 1950's. Now that the story is "out there" it just will not go away.