This is Watergate Cake with Impeachment Frosting from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson, owner of Baker & Spice Bakery.
It’s a pistachio cake representing its era, the ’70s. It not only symbolizes the political moment, but also the industrialization of food production. As reported by WAMU, the D.C. NPR member station, the cake features pistachio pudding mix. Just introduced to market at the time, the pudding was a new grocery-store curiosity. The cake has ingredients in common with Watergate salad, which isn’t a vegetable dish but a dessert.
According to NPR, the pistachios and frosting led people to quip about cover-ups and the quantity of nuts involved.
In her 2012 book, Richardson bypassed the packaged pudding and developed a scratch-made cake incorporating pistachios and the traditional flavors. Richardson’s impeachment frosting is pistachio cream.
As the country looks back through history, constitutional scholars have their focus and cake scholars have ours. From multiple angles, this is a cyclical and studious moment.
Andrea Adleman | Cupcakologist 