John Quincy Adams is the son in the first US father-son presidential pair. (George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush are the other. Relatedly, William Henry Harrison was grandfather to Benjamin Harrison.) The younger Adams watched as his father performed founding-father duties. Actually, John Quincy Adams did more than watch. As a teenager he served as personal secretary and translator to the US diplomat Francis Dana.
Thanks to Steven Speilberg’s Amistad, many folks know that John Quincy Adams was a lawyer in the case before the Supreme Court, defending the mutinous/escaped “slaves” (these slaves were actually captured Africans) from the ship. In this case, Adams lived up to his name, Old Man Eloquent, successfully convincing the court to rule in favor of returning these people to Africa.
A diplomat’s son turned diplomat, Adams spent much of his life in service to the country. Thanks to his dedication to journaling, we know quite a bit about many elements of his service and his life. Coming from his family, he would understand the importance of recording his impressions for posterity. John Quincy Adams began his diary habit at age 12 and continued until just before his death.
Despite having attended countless catered events as the president’s son, as president and as a US Senator, we know little about what John Quincy Adams ate, what he liked. Though he was a voracious recorder of events, he wrote virtually nothing about what he ate.
We do know, however, that he liked fresh fruit. This is how I knew that fruit would be a part of his cupcake.
Because Adams served so many roles in service to the country, it seems arguable that his life was a variation on the theme of service. I wanted to play with that creating a cupcake that was a variation of a theme.
The cake:
The Old Man Eloquent cupcake is all about berries. The cupcake here is raspberry flavored. It is filled with blackberry flavored whipped cream. It is frosted with strawberry cream cheese frosting. Finally, it is garnished with a blueberry and a blueberry syrup drizzle.
If you had to take a standardized test style test, the right answer would be this: John Quincy Adams is to public service as the Old Man Eloquent cupcake is to berries.
