{"id":2866,"date":"2013-09-18T20:57:05","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T01:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/headofstatecakes.com\/?p=245"},"modified":"2013-09-18T20:57:05","modified_gmt":"2013-09-19T01:57:05","slug":"the-better-angel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2013\/09\/the-better-angel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Better Angel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"betterangel1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There are a bazillion sources of information on Abraham Lincoln<\/a>. At Ford\u2019s Theatre<\/a>, which I very, very much want to visit, there is a large spiraling tower of books<\/a> about him. That makes it a challenge to identify just one element to focus on to create a tribute cupcake for him.<\/p>\n

Even if you want to do a regional focus, there\u2019s a challenge because many states claim Lincoln. Kentucky claims him. After all, he was born there. Indiana claims him; he spent some of his boyhood there. Illinois claims him, as that’s where he rose to national importance.<\/p>\n

Then there are his words. To be fair, let’s acknowledge that language changes over time, and that the modern reader doesn’t often read passages like the ones written in Lincoln’s day. Maybe, at times, time adds some romance. However, Lincoln was a known joke and storyteller. As such, he had an understanding of the way that we can be moved by language, or convinced, or ignited.<\/p>\n

Let’s focus on Lincoln’s first inaugural address<\/a>. It is very tempting to glaze over most of the address to focus on the nuggets of poetry that shine from within. \u00a0After all, after the strife is done, we like to clean up matters a bit. It seems that we like our figures pretty one-dimensional. The dimension that we have chosen for Lincoln is that of the Great Emancipator.<\/p>\n

The politician’s job, however, requires a great deal of deft flexibility. Lincoln spent a lot of that address talking about the Constitution<\/a> and what it had to say about the matters of the day. More specifically, he called out that the Constitution can’t be detailed enough to have a solution built-in for every possibility. He talked about his duty to uphold the Constitution. He talked about maintaining the union and not being flexible with the secessionists. spent the first part of his address trying to assuage the fears of those who thought that he symbolized great change on the slavery issue. He straight up said that he had no intention of doing anything that didn’t uphold the constitution. Slavery, at that time, was sanctioned by the Constitution. Basically, he said to the south, on the matter of civil war, if you don’t start none, there won’t be none. However, his language was so much prettier, so much more elegant.<\/p>\n

It is the poetry of the final paragraph of Lincoln\u2019s first inaugural address that inspired this cupcake.<\/p>\n

\n

“I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stre[t]ching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"betterangel2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The cake:<\/p>\n

This cupcake is the perfect excuse to delve into angel food cake. \u00a0I read that Abraham Lincoln enjoyed plain foods, and that apples were one of the things he enjoyed. So, the cake itself is flavored with apple pie spice and Applejack<\/a>. Because angel food cake is quite light, I thought that a buttercream frosting might totally overpower it. So, this cupcake is topped by a meringue frosting, again, Applejack flavored.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"betterangel3\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are a bazillion sources of information on Abraham Lincoln. At Ford\u2019s Theatre, which I very, very much want to visit, there is a large spiraling tower of books about him. That makes it a challenge to identify just one element to focus on to create a tribute cupcake for him. Even if you want
…read more<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[257,242,628,333],"class_list":["post-2866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baking","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-cakes","tag-head-of-state-cakes","tag-president","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p33KTw-Ke","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2888,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2013\/09\/the-tennessee-tailor\/","url_meta":{"origin":2866,"position":0},"title":"The Tennessee Tailor","author":"admin","date":"September 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Andrew Johnson is a president who I first remember learning about in the fourth grade. I remember learning about him and trying to understand what impeachment is. Andrew Johnson, like many of the other presidents is someone given to us by swirling, crazy circumstances. Abraham Lincoln choose him as his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "baking"","block_context":{"text":"baking","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/category\/baking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ajohnson1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/ajohnson1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/ajohnson1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/ajohnson1.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2599,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2013\/06\/the-dark-horse\/","url_meta":{"origin":2866,"position":1},"title":"The Dark Horse","author":"sherlonya","date":"June 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"James K. Polk is sometimes thought of as the last strong president until Abraham Lincoln. Other times he is called the first \u201cdark horse\u201d president. While he was watching election-related things unfold, he realized that the presidential candidates, Martin Van Buren and Henry Clay were avoiding the highly contentious issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Cakes\"","block_context":{"text":"Cakes","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/tag\/cakes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"polk1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/polk1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3927,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2014\/10\/the-dynamo\/","url_meta":{"origin":2866,"position":2},"title":"The Dynamo","author":"admin","date":"October 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Lyndon Johnson is my longstanding presidential crush (not to be mistaken for who I see as the most handsome of the presidents.) Sometimes I blame this obsession on a cold. \u00a0I was home from work convalescing on the couch and I decided to watch LBJ American Experience. As I drifted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "baking"","block_context":{"text":"baking","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/category\/baking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cupcakes tribute to Lyndon Johnson. ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/dynamo2.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/dynamo2.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/dynamo2.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4165,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2014\/12\/the-victor\/","url_meta":{"origin":2866,"position":3},"title":"The Victor","author":"admin","date":"December 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0Even \u00a0before I became profoundly interested in the United States presidents, Gerald Ford stood out to me for one reason and one reason alone. He was from my home state, Michigan. As I learned more about President Ford, it struck me how much \u201cmidwestern\u201d was used to describe him, at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "baking"","block_context":{"text":"baking","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/category\/baking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"fordcupcake1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/fordcupcake1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2704,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2013\/08\/the-bachelor\/","url_meta":{"origin":2866,"position":4},"title":"The Bachelor","author":"sherlonya","date":"August 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"buttercream\"","block_context":{"text":"buttercream","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/tag\/buttercream\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"buchanan1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/buchanan1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2932,"url":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/2013\/09\/the-unconditional-surrender\/","url_meta":{"origin":2866,"position":5},"title":"The Unconditional Surrender","author":"admin","date":"September 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "baking"","block_context":{"text":"baking","link":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/category\/baking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"grant1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/grant1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/grant1.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/headofstatecakes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/grant1.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sherlonya.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}