James Buchanan is one of the presidents unfortunate enough to be on one side of Lincoln, a president commonly remembered as a great one (well, at least among some folks).
The one fact that I remember from elementary school studies is that he was the only president not to have been married, ever. There were others who weren’t married while president (like Thomas Jefferson) and Grover Cleveland got married while he was president. But Buchanan is the bachelor president.
Buchanan, the last pre Civil War president was another chief executive who tried to compromise the country toward peace. As we know, this didn’t work.
However, one thing that was different in the White House between the Pierce administration and the Buchanan was entertaining. The grief-stricken Pierces were not exactly eager to throw big dinners. Buchanan, however, was. He appreciated food, and like Jefferson before him, liked to entertain in the French style. When I was looking around to find out more information about how Buchanan entertained, I came across a menu that listed Charlotte Russe. The Charlotte Russe seems to have had a million interpretations over time, but from this idea, I decided that this cake would incorporate some of the fruit flavors that the Charlotte Russe sometimes did.
The Cake:
Buchanan’s cupcake has two flavors. Vanilla and raspberry-rose. It is difficult to see, but this cupcake is frosted with two types of frosting, white chocolate buttercream and strawberry buttercream. Considering that Buchanan spent much of his own money for diplomatic entertainment, it seems that his cupcake should go all out in terms of flavors. There were a few technical difficulties when I made these cupcakes. I was attempting to use a tool that would allow me to neatly divide the flavors within the cupcakes. Either I was using the tool wrong, or I lacked sufficient patience. I switched over to another method, which seemed to work okay.
