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Martha Washington’s Great Cake
The Cake That Launched the Cake Project and This Book!

I live about five miles from Mount Vernon, and about every other fall, my husband, Jimmy, and I do the candlelight tour. The docents, dressed in period costumes, take you through what would have been a typical Christmas holiday with George and Martha. The two were besieged by guests every year, and you get the impression that George would have preferred his peace and quiet after he’d retired from the presidency. But social rules were social rules, so when people came calling, he was obliged to entertain.

The first room you enter is the dining room, and a woman dressed as Martha welcomes you from a comfy chair and explains how tired she is from everyone she’s seen during the twelve-day holiday. She’s quite jolly, slightly gossipy, and very engaging. She’ll usually pick out a young girl from the group and ask her name. Whatever the child says (Emily, Lashelle, Madison), she’ll exclaim, “Oh! What a FINE Virginia name!” And then she’ll talk about this big white cake sitting on the dining room table.

It’s iced in white, and it’s made of seasonal fruits and brandy. But it’s not a Christmas cake. It’s an anniversary cake. The Washingtons were married on January 6, 1759, the traditional Twelfth Day of Christmas. With all the goings-on at Mount Vernon, both George and Martha looked forward to sharing a slice of the great cake to celebrate their mutual devotion and (one hopes) an emptying house.

This comes from a modern adaptation of Martha’s original recipe, which was preserved for posterity by her granddaughter. The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association happily hands it out to visitors every holiday season.

This cake is a bit onerous: You’ve got to wrestle with egg whites, plus there’s a lot of peeling and chopping. Because the cake goes back INTO the oven once you’ve iced it, I recommend that you be extra careful not to overbake it the first time. But it is a fun cake to do, and I especially like baking it during that lull between Christmas and New Year’s, when everybody is mellow and relaxed. Plus, people seem to love the idea of eating what George Washington might have eaten, though they do seem to enjoy eating it with a full set of teeth.

This is a really dense cake, and it shouldn’t be sliced too thickly. With a sharp knife, you can expect to feed between 20 and 28.

You’ll need
A 10-inch tube pan
Whisk attachment for mixer
A hand-held mixer (or an extra bowl for stand mixer)

For the Cake
10 large eggs
4 sticks (2 cups, aka 1 pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground mace
2 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/4 cup wine (recipe doesn’t specify white or red; I use white)
1/4 cup French brandy
1 1/4 pounds assorted fruits and nuts, chopped or sliced (about 18 ounces fruit and 2 ounces nuts, see Tip)

For the Frosting
3 large egg whites
1 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons orange extract

Tip: OK, here’s a baking headache: a cup of one fruit or nut doesn’t necessarily equal, in weight, a cup of another fruit. You can Google, but here’s a very, very brief guide:

1 pound (16 ounces) hazelnuts = 3 cups
1 pound pecans, almonds, or walnuts = 3 1/8 cups
1 pound apples, chopped = 3 cups
1 pound apricots, sliced = 2 1/8 cups
1 pound apricots, dried = 3 1/4 cups
1 pound pears, sliced = 2 cups
1 pound dates, dried and chopped = 4 cups
1 pound figs, dried and chopped = 2 2/3 cups
1 pound raisins, dried cherries, or dried cranberries = 3 cups

I leave you to do the math.

Here’s another cheat sheet, courtesy our dear friends at Mount Vernon, of what would have been available to Mrs. Martha during the holiday season:

5 ounces pear, peeled, cored, and diced
3 1/2 ounces raisins
9 1/2 ounces apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2 ounces sliced almonds

You’ll have to do some math to tally 1 1/4 pounds (20 ounces) of your assorted fruits. Sorry. I never told you math was not involved in baking.

To Make the Cake

1. Position a rack so the cake will sit in the middle of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare the pan.

2. Separate the egg whites from the yolks, collecting the egg whites in the bowl of a mixer, and set the yolks aside.

3. Using the whisk attachment on the mixer, whisk the egg whites to the soft peak stage.

4. In separate mixing bowl, cream the butter with a hand-held mixer. Slowly fold in a third of the beaten egg whites until incorporated. Repeat 2 times, until all the egg whites are incorporated.

5. Slowly fold in the sugar, about 1 cup at a time, until incorporated.

6. Beat the egg yolks lightly and fold them in. Fold in the flour until fully incorporated.

7. Fold in the mace, nutmeg, wine, and brandy

8. Fold in the fruits and nuts.

9. Pour the batter into the pan and bake about for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the cake tests done.

10. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then unmold onto a cake rack.

To Make the Frosting

11. When the cake is almost cool, preheat the oven to 200 degrees F and make the frosting.

12. Using a hand mixer (or your arms, if you’ve had your vitamins), beat together the egg whites and 2 tablespoons of the confectioners’ sugar. Continue adding the sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition, until you have incorporated all of the sugar.

13. Add the grated lemon zest and orange extract flavoring. Beat until the frosting is stiff enough to stay parted when cut through with a knife.

To Finish the Cake

14. Smooth the meringue onto the cake. Let it dry and harden in the oven for 1 hour. The frosting will be brittle when cut with a knife.

Purchase All Cakes Considered.

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Peter Perez
Senior Marketing Manager

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