This very old cake recipe was featured in an article of the Saturday Evening Post, February 1957. The man and woman in the photo are the grandparents of one of my dearest friends.
According to the article, Mary Todd Lincoln made this cake for Abraham Lincoln before they were married. He is said to have declared it, "the best in Kentucky."

Here's the recipe for Abe Lincoln's favorite cake; Florence McMurtry's baking hints are in parentheses.
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
3 cups flour (cake or pastry)
2 tsps. baking powder (double-acting)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped, blanched almonds
1/4 tsp. salt
6 egg whites
Cream butter and sugar lightly. Sift flour and baking powder together and add alternately with milk (to the first mixture). Add well-floured nuts, then vanilla. Fold in stiffly beaten whites of eggs, to which salt has been added. Bake in three layers (9" or 8" pans) in moderate (350˚F) oven. Ice with boiled icing, to which add 1/2 cup candied pineapple and cherries, chopped fine.
Now for the Washington cream pie. I cannot tell a lie. While it's called a pie, this is really a cake.
I found it in this 1954 booklet from Carnation.

Here's the recipe for Washington Cream Pie/Cake. It makes a two-layer, 8-inch cake.
Cake
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp. double-acting baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Carnation Evaporated Milk
Blend butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy (about 5 min.). Add dry ingredients (which have been sifted together) alternately with the evaporated milk. Pour into two buttered, paper-lined, 8-inch layer cake pans (1/12 inches deep). Bake in a moderate oven (350˚F) about 25 minutes. When cool, spread Cream Filling between layers and spinkle top with confectioners sugar.
Cream Filling
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1 cup Carnation Evaporated Milk
1 cup water
1 tsp almond extract
Combine sugar, salt and cornstarch with evaporated milk and water mixture over low heat or in double boiler. Cook until thickened (about 7 to 10 minutes), stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add flavoring; stir. Cool; spread cream filling between cooled cake layers and sprinkle top of cake with confectioners sugar.
Click here for a retro recipe for fudge cake.