Mary Todd Lincoln Cake

My grandson brought this recipe home after their Abraham Lincoln birthday celebration at school and insisted that I keep this recipe. I'm posting here on RecipeZaar as an untried recipe. Prep time is an estimate. An added note on the recipe card: "The marriage of Mary Todd to Abraham Lincoln is best expressed by the words Lincoln had engraved inside Mary's wedding band, "Love is Eternal". Mary expressed her feelings in less dramatic, but lasting and tasteful terms. She baked him her favorite white cake. This is her recipe."

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 12
• Yields: 1 cake

Ingredients

• Cake

• 1 1⁄2 cups sugar
• 1  cup butter
• 1  teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1⁄4 cups cake flour
• 1  tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1⁄3 cups milk
• 1  cup  almonds, finely chopped
• 6  egg whites, stiffly beaten

• White Frosting

• 1  cup sugar
• 1⁄3 cup water
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1  dash salt
• 2  egg whites
• 1  teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Cake:.
2. Cream sugar, butter and vanilla.
3. Sift together cake flour and baking powder three times.
4. Add to creamed mixture alternatively with milk.
5. Stir in almonds.
6. Gently fold in the egg whites.
7. Pour into two greased and floured 9 x 1 1/2 inch round baking pans.
8. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
9. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.
10. White Frosting:.
11. Bring to boiling, sugar, water, cream of tartar and salt. Boil until sugar dissolves.
12. Put egg whites in mixing bowl. Start beater and while egg whites are beating, very slowly add hot syrup.
13. Beat until stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes.
14. Beat in vanilla for one more minute.