The Classic Cakes Former US Presidents Loved To Eat

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Almost everyone has a favorite type of cake. Even people who don't have a sweet tooth tend to have at least one kind of cake that they enjoy on their birthday or as a holiday treat. But U.S. presidents have an advantage over the rest of us: a dedicated pastry chef on site to whip up their favorite cakes any time a craving strikes. So, what classic cakes did former U.S. presidents love? We looked through information from presidential libraries, the White House Association, and former White House pastry chefs themselves to compile a list.

Some of these cakes were presidents' favorites long before their White House tenure, and a few became favorites during their time in office. Many of these classic cakes were beloved recipes of family members, at least one of them was the subject of a minor diplomatic incident, and you might be surprised by how many U.S. presidents loved one particular type of classic cake. All of these cakes have one thing in common, though — they were a reminder of home even when these leaders were on the world stage. If you've ever wondered about the favorite foods of U.S. presidents (like their favorite breakfast foods), keep reading to discover the classic cakes they adored.

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The nation's first president loved simple food, including local fruits and nuts and homemade cherry bounce – a boozy beverage made of tart cherries, spices, and brandy — that Washington carried in his canteen. So it's not surprising that his favorite cake was essentially a fruitcake. "Great Cakes" were widely popular during Washington's time. Families often had their own versions of this dense and sweet cake packed with candied fruits, spices, nuts, Madeira wine, and French brandy. In fact, Martha Washington's "Booke of Sweetmeats" (transcribed by Karen Hess as part of "Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery," a family manuscript that was given to Martha in 1749 at the time of her first marriage), includes three recipes for "Great Cakes."

If you want to try your hand at making a Great Cake, you'll want to use a modern version of the recipe because the Colonial-era versions tend to be made for a crowd. An original recipe calls for five pounds of flour, 40 eggs, four pounds of butter and four pounds of sugar, along with large amounts of candied fruits and nuts. 

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By all accounts, James Madison didn't give a lot of consideration to food, but his wife's soft gingerbread cake recipe was one of his favorite foods.  Dolley Madison was considered to be one of the most impactful White House hostesses ever. The dinner parties she held set the tone for the new republic by demonstrating that the chief executive of the country was accessible to citizens; guests were seated at long tables, where Madison sat in the middle instead of at the head of the table. Even her jewelry set the tone; she wore pearls instead of the diamonds worn by British royalty to show that the White House was not a royal court. 

Dolley Madison's soft gingerbread cake was apparently a favorite of more than one president; she calls her recipe "Jefferson's gingerbread" after Thomas Jefferson, who was a close friend of James Madison and immediately preceded him in the White House. Her original recipe uses a full cup of molasses — which is the only sweetener used — and four teaspoons of ground ginger. As with many old-fashioned cake recipes, it calls for the baking soda to be dissolved in hot water instead of being mixed in with the dry ingredients, and uses beef drippings or lard as the fat.

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Historians make one particular note of Rutherford B. Hayes' eating style: He enjoyed moderation. According to "The Presidents' Cookbook," Hayes had one cup of coffee at breakfast time and one cup of tea for lunch. It's also noted that while they were in the White House, Ohio natives Hayes and his wife Lucy preferred simple meals made by their cook who was also from Ohio. For dessert, the couple often enjoyed a slice of angel food cake.

This classic cake first appeared in the 1800s, though it didn't earn its name until the latter part of the century. It's not clear why it was called angel food cake but First Lady Lucy Hayes mentioned her love of the cake when she was asked about her favorite dessert in 1883. The cake uses egg whites to create a light and airy texture, something that was prohibitively time and labor intensive before the invention of the rotary egg beater in 1870.

James Buchanan is so far the only unmarried president in U.S. history, and his time in the White House was filled with entertainments and expensive formal dinners prepared by a French caterer (which historians emphasize that he paid for out of his own pocket). It's said that one flavor he particularly enjoyed was almond, which, although they were being grown in California at the time, were still considered an exotic food because they weren't being produced commercially. 

One of Buchanan's favorite cakes is a true classic, in that it's not a cake you see very often anymore. The moss rose cake was popular in the mid-1800s and named after a new type of rose grown in Europe. The almond-flavored cake is frosted with a fluffy icing and covered with a mixture of orange zest and grated coconut, which is supposed to make the cake appear "fuzzy" like the moss rose. The cake is then garnished with orange slices.

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President Abraham Lincoln's favorite cake was the one his wife made him when they were courting; he called it the best he ever ate. He was talking about Mary Todd Lincoln's white almond cake. The Todd family got the recipe (which became a family favorite) from a French caterer in Lexington, Kentucky, who created it in 1825 to honor the visit of the American Revolution war hero Lafayette.

The recipe calls for blanched almonds, meaning the brown papery skin is removed via a quick dip in boiling water before the almonds are ground into a coarse flour. The almonds used in this recipe likely came from Europe since, as with the moss rose cake, almonds were not yet being produced in large quantities in the U.S. And instead of whole eggs, the cake uses only egg whites, which gives this cake its name.

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According to Boston's famed Parker House hotel (now known as the Omni Parker House), Parker's Restaurant invented the Boston cream pie in 1856. Although its name calls this a pie, this dessert is actually two layers of sponge cake filled with a pastry cream flavored with a little bit of rum. The cake is topped with a layer of decadent chocolate icing. The chocolate-topped dessert itself was likely derived from an old-school summer dish called Washington pie. Why was it named pie and not cake? At the time, cakes were often baked in shallow round baking dishes called pie plates, so the dessert was called a pie even if it more closely resembled a cake.

President Ulysses S. Grant was reportedly a big fan of Boston cream pie. It's not clear where or when he first tried the dessert, but he did stay at the Parker House in Boston and attended a banquet held at Parker's Restaurant in 1875. We can reasonably assume that enjoying some Boston cream pie was a highlight of his stay. 

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Chester Arthur didn't expect to became president. Elected as vice president in 1880, he was a thrown into the position when James Garfield was assassinated in 1881. He moved into the White House in December of 1881, bringing with him a French chef and a return to a more formal entertaining style. Historians consider him a gourmet comparable only to Thomas Jefferson, and his dinner parties became famous for their elaborate quality. While there were rumors that Arthur was using public funds to pay for these meals, he was in fact using his own money. He held fewer dinner parties so that each one would be of the highest quality.

With an eye toward the cutting edge of gourmet fashion and an innovative chef, it's not surprising that one of President Arthur's favorite cakes was a new recipe called devil's food cake. Though its exact origins aren't known and the first official recipe wasn't printed until 1902, devil's food cake first appeared as a dessert some time in the late 1800s and quickly became popular in fashionable circles.

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Clove cake is a dense spice cake with a texture similar to gingerbread. It's packed with raisins and uses molasses to add the dark, rich sweetness that makes this cake special. It was a favorite of Theodore Roosevelt's, made from his wife Edith's recipe. President Roosevelt had vocal opinions about the food he ate — he liked simple, hearty food and drink. 

He also had a major sweet tooth; when he drank coffee (and according to his son, his coffee cup was more in the nature of a bathtub) he preferred it with seven lumps of sugar. Because cloves are a stronger-tasting spice that not everyone enjoys in abundance, maybe it's not a surprise that Teddy Roosevelt loved it. The Roosevelts usually served clove cake with curls of candied ginger on top, though for a modern twist you could easily add a caramel or citrus sauce or even whipped cream on the side.

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The truth about fruitcake is that a lot of people really do like it. In fact, one former president was such a fan that he asked for it to be served year-round. President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested that fruitcake be made for his birthday every year. His love of fruitcake was so well known that in 1933 he was gifted a 110-pound fruitcake symbolizing California missions, decorated with sugar palm trees and mountains. In 1938, Ruth Jackson made a 5-foot-tall, 70-pound fruitcake with patriotic decorations including images of Uncle Sam, images of state flowers from all 48 states (at the time), and a replica of the Capitol building made out of sugar. 

Henrietta Nesbitt, the Roosevelt's cook and housekeeper, later published the fruitcake recipe she made for the Roosevelts in a cookbook titled "The Presidential Cookbook – Feeding the Roosevelts and Their Guests." The recipe calls for a pound and a half each of flour, butter, and brown sugar, as well as 18 eggs, honey, spices, almonds, mixed citrus peel, and dates and raisins soaked overnight in brandy and sherry.

Harry Truman didn't much care what food was put in front of him; he said he learned in the Army "to eat what could be obtained and like it." Even in the White House, the Trumans tended to eat traditional home-cooked meals. One of President Truman's favorite cakes was Ozark pudding, a simple apple and nut cake. Anyone who asked for it was sent a copy of "Mrs. Truman's Famous Ozark Pudding."

Though it was a simple dessert, First Lady Bess Truman served Ozark pudding to world leaders. In addition to official state dinners, the dessert was on the menu for at least one history-making meal. In 1946, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech that marked the first use of the phrase "Iron Curtain" as a way to call out the restrictive policies of the Soviet Union. After the speech, the Trumans and Churchill sat down to enjoy the president's favorite cake.

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According to the LBJ Presidential Library, one of former president Lyndon B. Johnson's favorite cakes was a German chocolate cake. Because Texas is one of the top pecan growing states in the U.S., it's not surprising that as a born-and-bred-Texan, LBJ enjoyed this cake. But there's one important thing to know about German chocolate cake – this cake doesn't actually have German roots.

German chocolate cake takes its name from the creator of a recipe for a sweetened chocolate bar, Samuel German; the recipe calls for German's Sweet Chocolate. One story goes that the original cake recipe was called German's chocolate cake.  And here's where we find out how a former president's favorite cake might have almost caused a minor diplomatic incident. LBJ assumed his favorite was a German-inspired recipe and, during a 1963 visit from German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard to his ranch in Texas, had it served as part of lunch. Fortunately, if he noticed, Erhard didn't comment on it.

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One Christmas tradition that President Jimmy Carter brought with him to the White House was serving Alabama Lane cake as part of the Carter family's holiday celebration. The Lane cake was named for Emma Rylander Lane; her cake won first prize at a Georgia fair and when she published a cookbook with the recipe in 1898, she gave the cake her name. Carter grew up with his father baking Lane cake, while Rosalynn's mother was the one who taught the White House pastry chefs how to make the beloved recipe.

Like many Southern special occasion cakes, Alabama Lane cake takes a fair amount of time and effort (and bourbon) to make. The layer cake uses egg whites instead of whole eggs to give it a lighter texture. The custard filling uses the egg yolks, plus cherries, raisins, pecans, and coconut, along with enough bourbon to know that it's there even after the cake is baked. Some versions of the Lane cake also finish it with a fluffy white icing.

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According to Bill Yossos, who served as the White House pastry chef for two former presidents, one of President George W. Bush's favorite cakes was seven-layer chocolate cake. In a behind-the-scenes look at his work at the White House, Yossos said that former president Bush ate dessert at dinner on most nights, and requested this cake for his birthday and frequently throughout the eight years of his presidency. 

In addition to the usual cake ingredients, this recipe uses buttermilk and cocoa powder to give the cake its rich taste and texture. Once baked and cooled, the seven layers are assembled with a decadent chocolate icing spread in between each layer and over the top. It's then refrigerated to set before a final chocolate glaze is poured over the entire cake to give it a smooth finish. Garnish the top with crushed walnuts, slice it into thin wedges and you have a cake fit for a president. 

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It might surprise people that so many former presidents loved fruitcake. According to former White House Pastry Chef Bill Yosses, a member of his pastry team had served at the American Embassy in England, where she learned how to make Dundee cake (named after Dundee, Scotland). Yosses said that Dundee cake became one of President Barack Obama's favorite cakes during his time in the White House.

While there are many variations of fruitcake, Dundee cake has a specific set of ingredients that set it apart from other fruit cakes. Instead of a varying mix of dried or candied fruits and nuts, Dundee cake uses raisins or sultanas, Seville orange marmalade, candied orange peel or orange zest, and almonds. Some recipes use good Scotch whisky to soak the sultanas, too. While the cake can be baked in the traditional loaf shape, many Dundee cakes are made in a round shape so that a pattern of whole, blanched almonds can be laid on top.