I have always thought that Ulysses S. Grant was the most handsome of our presidents. There, I said it.
If it can be said that the Civil War had a darling, from the Union point of view, that would have been Ulysses S. Grant. Most of his fame came from his deeds on the field, rather than his deeds in office. There is so much that can be said about President Grant. He was a devoted father. He was a talented horseman. He desperately missed his wife when he was away from her. He was squeamish at the sight of blood, so much so that he couldn’t bear rare meat. One could even say that he felt that it was his duty to try to help the United States recover from the Andrew Johnson presidency, and that he felt obliged to run for president despite his general dislike of politics. One could wonder how he dealt with the Lincoln assassination on a personal level, considering that he and his wife were supposed to go to the theater with the Lincolns the night that the 16th president was slain.
However, usually, when he comes up in conversation, most people either say something about the scandals that plagued his presidency or about his drinking. Usually in that conversation no one mentions that he wasn’t actually proven to have done wrong in association with these scandals. Also, the interpretations of his drinking vary. Some say that he just wasn’t able to handle alcohol very well, that small quantities impacted him greatly. This is a different image than that of someone who just can’t quench a thirst for fiery water.
If there was a pleasure that was to injure him more, however, it was smoking. At one point, Grant told a reporter that he enjoyed cigars. After that, the public sent him cigars, thousands of them. Grant received so many cigars that he actively gave them away. Even then, he had more cigars than he would have ever needed. Not surprisingly, he began to enjoy cigars more frequently. Not surprisingly, he later developed a case of terminal throat cancer.
The cake
This is probably the worst sentence ever, but I wanted to do something with Grant’s cancer in this cake. For an unfortunate moment, the idea of doing something with tobacco crossed my mind. Then, my whole body recoiled in horror. But I wanted to get at those cigars that likely lead to his death. Then the answer came to me. I needed to focus not on tobacco, but the flavor of smoke itself. So, I decided to make a lapsang souchong tea flavored cupcake. The cupcake is filled with whiskey marshmallow cream and topped with whiskey buttercream. There is blue sugar on top. This is a nod to Union Army uniform, the blue coats that the soldiers wore when such coats were still available.
Just discovered your site today, and I must say how much I like your Head of State Cakes series. Brilliant!
But where are the recipes? I want to bake your cakes. I want to eat your cakes.
I do see a recipe for Curry Chicken Pot Pie on your home page, so I don’t think my browser is just not displaying the recipe section of your presidential posts. Where can I go to find the recipes for your presidential cakes? Please don’t tell me you don’t post them, not after writing such enticing descriptions, so clearly in tune with the persons they honor, and after showing such lovely images.
Hi! Thanks for taking the time to write. I think that it might be time for me to re-think posting the cupcake recipes! While most of them turned out well, some of them could use a bit more work. I’ve been hesitant to put them out there if I think that they can be improved. If you have a favorite or two though, I can post recipes for you. Moving forward, I’ll consider posting at least some of them.
Thanks! I’m adding President Polk’s Dark Horse cupcake to my recipe box.
Personally, I would not object to seeing a recipe that could use a little improvement — give us a challenge! We home bakers like experimenting, and we REALLY like making our own improvements to recipes that are presented as having been perfected. Has anyone not made changes to a recipe from Julia Child, Martha Stewart, America’s Test Kitchen (my favorite), or any other professional baker?
Short of those that turned out to be inedible (and we’ve all had the same failures in our own kitchens), I would like to try all of your recipes, including those that do not quite satisfy you. Some of us may like them as is anyway, as all have different tastes and standards. Just tell us what you didn’t like about a particular recipe so we know what to work on in our own efforts. Your Abraham Lincoln Better Angel cupcake included a good example: “I’d call this cupcake a success, but I think that more experience working with angel food cake would help. These cupcakes turned out to be small, suggesting that I should have filled the cups differently. Also, it seems like I should have baked them just a touch longer, that like Lincoln, these cupcakes could have used more time.” Only we didn’t get a recipe that we could try out with your recommendations. And that last line you wrote: this is a excellent example of why I am so pleased to have found your site!
You’ve already blazed new ground by offering us an inspired series of presidential biographies, duly honored in your cupcakes. I am sure a great many people have learned as much about our past presidents through your posts as they ever learned in school.
Why not blaze a new trail by posting a few recipes that have NOT been perfected, with your ideas about what we should do to improve them. Everybody else posts what they claim to be perfect recipes, and we all know that many don’t live up to the promise. I don’t know of any site that gives us usable but perhaps slightly flawed recipes that give us a head start on making our own experiments. Think of a needlepoint kit that has done the hard part and lets the buyer fill in the easier bits. It’s like a halfway house for those who can’t start from scratch on their own.