President Obama is now officially Captain of the Cupcakes...On August 18, in the Oval Office, President Obama presented surprise birthdays cupcakes to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and economic advisor Austan Goolsbee for their shared birthday. The President might be moderately obsessed with Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses' pies--he even had pie at his own White House birthday celebration--but now cupcaking seems to be a habit. The photo, above, just appeared in the newest update of the White House Flickr, which has a time schedule that makes sense only to, say, President Obama's official photographer, Pete Souza (although a months to six weeks from picture being shot to getting posted seems standard). For his birthday cupcakes, Mr. Geithner is seated at left, and Mr. Goolsbee is on the right on the couch as a White House butler makes the presentation. It's not the first time the White House has focused on the President's cupcaking, however.
The President surprised legendary White House correspondent Helen Thomas with cupcakes on her birthday on August 4--which also happens to be his birthday. The President showed up in the White House briefing room, cupcakes in hand, and led a round of 'Happy Birthday.' Thomas is the oldest member of the White House Press Corps, and turned 89 as the President turned 48.
An early indicator that the President was a cupcake aficionado was the presentation of birthday cupcakes to Vice President Joe Biden, when the two had been elected, but not yet entered the White House. On November 19, the day before Mr. Biden turned 66, the President presented him with a dozen cupcakes at their weekly lunch, and announced "You're twelve years old!" Biden replied: "Maybe in dog years!" 'Happy Birthday' was sung, and the President gave Mr. Biden a White Sox cap, a Bears cap, and a bucket of Garrett's popcorn, a fave foodie gift from Chicago.
And of course there are the special Garden Harvest Picnic Cupcakes, served at the big garden harvest and cooking event for the White House Kitchen Garden on June 16. The cupcakes were made with honey instead of white sugar, for a healthier alternative to processed ingredients. Tragically, kid-friendly recipes were released for the foods served at the Harvest Picnic...except for the cupcakes. (The White House Harvest cupcakes, above)
The President, of course, has also been memorialized in millions of cupcakes, but the reigning queen of Obama Homage Cupcakes is New York artist/baker Zilly Rosen. She created an amazing Obama portrait of 1,200 mini cupcakes during Campaign season, and then topped herself after the Inauguration, with the installation of a 5,900 mini cupcake portrait of President Obama and President Lincoln. That one was created on site at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on Feb. 13, then displayed all day on Feb. 14--and eaten by the happy masses in the early evening. Except, of course, for the three mini cupcakes from the installation which your intrepid blogger still has frozen at home, in a Warholian time capsule move....
*Amusingly, one of the first glowy write-ups Obama Foodorama got when it left its host blog to become a freestanding blog was from Josh Ozersky at The Feedbag, and had the headline "Obama Foodorama is More Than Just Cupcakes."
Photos: Treasury Cupcakes by Pete Souza/White House; Biden Cupcakes from The Transition; Helen Thomas Cupcakes by Reuters; Harvest Cupcakes by Samantha Appleton/White House; Zilly Rosen portrait by Obama Foodorama.
