Instructions: " Best I ever ate, is what Abraham Lincoln had to say about this velvet crumbed white cake made with finely grated blanched almonds. No small praise, considering Lincolns unconcern for food. It is a recipe Mary Todds family obtained from a Lexington, Kentucky, caterer named Giron, who had created the recipe in 1825 on the occasion of Lafayettes visit to Lexington. Mary served the cake often during the Lincolns Illinois days and later at the White House.

In those days, the almonds would have been painstakingly grated by hand, one at a time. They can be done in a trice today in an electric blender or better still, with one of the small rotary hand graters, which gives the grated nuts a fluffiness akin to that of flour. One can only wonder what Mary Todd Lincolns reaction to such modern gadgets would be."

Grate enough of the almonds in a rotary hand grater to total 1 cup exactly

(do not pack the nuts in the measure) or grate them, a few at a time, in an electric blender at high speed; set nuts aside. Sift the flour with the baking powder and set aside. Cream the butter until very light, then add 13/4 cups of the sugar gradually, creaming all the while until fluffy. Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Fold gently but thoroughly into the batter. Pour into a well-buttered and floured 9 inch tube pan and bake in a moderate oven (350)

about an hour or until cake begins to pull from sides of pan and a finger, pressed lightly into the top of the cake, leaves an imprint that vanishes slowly. Cool cake upright in its pan on a wire rack 10 minutes, then loosen cake around edges of pan with a spatula and turn out on a rack. Cool thoroughly before cutting. The cake is a rich one-rather like a white pound cake-and needs no frosting."

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