Martha Washington's Great Cake

Hello, there!  I'm Amanda, Erin's old ADX roomie.  I would like to share with you a lovely recipe for Martha Washington's Great Cake.

I currently live in Arlington, Virginia, which is only 10 miles away from Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington.  I recently went on a candlelit tour of Mount Vernon, and received a copy of Martha Washington's recipe for her Great Cake, which she traditionally served on Twelfth Night (January 6th, the last day of Christmas, or Epiphany).  Twelfth Night was also the Washingtons' wedding anniversary; they were married on January 6, 1759.  I was excited to try out an authentic 18th-century recipe, and I hope you will, too!

Martha's original recipe is a bit daunting, as copied down by Martha Parke Custis, the second of Mrs. Washington's four grandchildren:

Take 40 eggs divide the whites from the yolks & beat them to a froth then work 4 pounds of butter to a cream & put the whites of eggs to it a Spoon full at a time till it is well work'd then put 4 pounds of sugar finely powdered to it in the same manner then put in the Youlks [sic] of eggs & 5 pounds of flower [sic] and 5 pounds of fruit. 2 hours will bake it add to it half an ounce of mace and nutmeg half a pint of wine and some frensh [sic] brandy.

Needless to say, I possess neither pan nor oven (nor social callers) sufficient to bake a cake that calls for 40 eggs.  Thankfully, Mount Vernon provided a recipe adapted for the 21st century.

Martha Washington's Great Cake
adapted from Mount Vernon

Ingredients:

• 10 eggs
• 1 lb butter
• 1 lb sugar
• 1 1/4 lbs flour (20 ounces)
• 1 1/4 lbs assorted fruit & nuts
• 2 1/2 tsp ground mace
• 2 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 oz wine (I used cooking sherry)
• 2 oz French brandy (I used E&J VSOP)

The recipe recommends certain fruits and nuts based on what would have been available to Mrs. Washington.  I largely followed the recommendations, with the exception that I substituted dried cranberries for the suggested raisins, because I loathe raisins.

Fruit and nuts:

• 5 oz of pear (peeled, cored, and diced) (I used two Cortland apples)
• 9 1/2 oz of apple (peeled, cored, and diced) (I used one Bosc pear)
• 3 1/2 oz of dried cranberries
• 2 oz of sliced almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Separate egg whites from yolks and set yolks aside.

2. Beat the egg whites to a "soft peak."

3. Cream the butter.

4. Slowly add the beaten egg whites, one spoonful at a time, to the butter.  (Note: Pretty much every step of this recipe should be done "slowly," as suggested.  I disobeyed the "spoonful at a time" instruction, and it was very difficult to coax the egg whites and the butter to interact.)

5. Slowly add the sugar, one spoonful at a time, to the egg whites and butter.

6. Add egg yolks.

7. Add flour, slowly.  (Note: I added a 1/4 cup at a time.)

8. Add fruit.

9. Add ground mace and nutmeg, wine, and brandy.

10. Lightly grease and flour a 10-inch spring-form cake pan.  (Note: I only had a 9-inch spring-form cake pan, so I set aside enough batter for six cupcakes, which worked out nicely.)

11. Pour batter into pan and bake about 75 minutes.

I had a bit of a complication at this point: my new spring-form pan leaked!  Imagine my dismay when I smelled burning, only three minutes into baking.  To remedy the leak, I wrapped the bottom of the pan in tin foil, and placed it on a baking sheet, which solved the problem.


12. Allow cake to cool after baking.  (Note: the cake was golden brown after 75 minutes, but seemed rather moist.  Don't worry--it will solidify as it cools.)

I baked the "Great Cupcakes" for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  To get them out of the pan, I ran a sharp knife around the edge, and then used a fork to pry them out.  Don't forget to grease and flour this pan, too!

18th-Century Icing
adapted from Mount Vernon

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp lemon peel, grated
• 2 tbsp orange-flower water (I used 1 tbsp orange extract)

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  Beat three egg whites and 2 tbsp powdered sugar.  Repeat additions of sugar until you have used 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar.

2. Add 1 tsp grated lemon peel and 1 tbsp orange extract.

3. Beat until the icing is stiff enough to stay parted when a knife cuts through it.  (Note: I don't think I ever reached this point, even after switching to the electric hand mixer.  Don't despair--it'll still work out if it's a bit soupy!)

4. Smooth it onto the cake.  (Note: my method for icing the side of the cake was to put a dollop of icing on the top edge, and then allow gravity to help me along as it slid down the side.)

5. Let it dry and harden in 200-degree oven for one hour.  (Note: icing will be brittle when cut with a knife.)

All told, this cake required a very lengthy process.  It is a good recipe for a Saturday afternoon at home.  I was intrigued by how the cake came out; my taste testers and I agreed that it was more like a delicious fruit cake than anything else.

My favorite part of this recipe was the frosting, which functions much like a meringue.  I want to try it on other baked goods!

-Amanda

resolute, with cranberry cupcakes

Welcome to the new year! Heck, it’s a new decade. But honestly, I’ll spare you much musing on the significance of this new year/ new decade, because so many blogs out there have done it better, and in a more timely fashion. Like, say, on the actual first of the year.

Erin and I talked a little about resolutions this morning. Erin is not for them. My resolution this year? I’ve resolved to make 2010 the year I go to medical school. Like Eric Bana says in the end of the Star Trek trailer, “The wait is ovahh.” (Technically, seven more months to go, but let’s not get detailed.) Maybe you, like Erin, are not one for big, life-changing changes. But as this is a food blog, we can all make some food goals for 2010. Perhaps there’s a recipe, or ten, you’d like to master this year. Or just a long list of yummy foods you’d like to EAT this year. Or yummy foods you’d like to see here on Pacific Thyme. Let us know.

Actually, last year, I made a simultaneously life-changing and food-related goal: I decided to go veg. While vacationing in December of 2008, I randomly picked up a book about the wanton wastefulness of the omnivorous lifestyle. Before any republicans in the audience gets all up in a huff- here’s my disclaimer. Yes, meat is yummy. Yes, I’ve seen that picture about carnivores not needing a wimpy support group. Yes, I think that joke “PETA: People Eating Tasty Animals” is clever. And honestly, I think human beings are meant to be omnivorous, what with the hunting and the gathering. It is simply the amount that the average person consumes in the US today that is so unnatural and appalling. Omnivorous doesn’t mean meat needs to be part of every meal, or that a dinner should consist of a sixteen ounce steak (although I’ve been happily guilty of that before). (This month, Harper’s Index printed the statistic that US greenhouse gas emissions would be cut by 185 million tons if we reduced the obesity rate to 3%. Obesity is currently ten times that for adults 20 and older in the US.)

But I digress. The point is while I don’t think everyone should be vegetarian, it seemed reasonable to do a little extra in hopes of tipping the heavily sagging “cosmic scale.” So a year ago, I decided to cut out meat and dairy products, but kept eggs, because eggs are yummy and it was my gig, so I just decided it was so. I turned a blind eye to dairy incorporated in baked goods, but I switched to soy milk and soy ice cream. Now, those who know me know that I can be…enthusiastic, but my enthusiasm can be short lived. That is to say, my attention span rivals that of a small kitten. No one really expected me to last a week on this crazy diet, let alone a year, the typical length of a new year’s resolution. I’m a realist. I told myself if I made it even six months, I would feel plenty accomplished.

I’m not sure what turned out to be more surprising – that I actually did last more than six months and or how easy it turned out to be. Given that it is now, ahem, 2010, it seems there is quite an amply stocked market for the vegetably inclined. And many of the products are really very tasty, including some easy frozen “meatball” varieties and many soy ice cream options. And what’s more, you don’t even need to get dressed up and go to a fancy-pants John Mackey joint to find these products-most are common enough to be in your local Safeway, or Kroger, or what have you.

Despite this bout of waxing nostalgic, I did indeed quit the veg gig around August, coinciding with the launch of this blog. Cooking meat can be wonderful and fun, and I like to serve to my friends, none of whom are vegetarian. Still, I think my eight month stint taught me some valuable lessons in creativity and I definitely can get by with less meat now, if not no meat.

Back to regular programming. I needed to bake something for a new year’s eve party, and I wanted to do some kind of wint'ry cupcake flavor. Erin, in her beauty and brilliance, suggested cranberry, which I loved. I decided to do a basic vanilla cupcake with a cranberry swiss meringue buttercream. (It turned out decently well, although as I was in a rush to bring them to the party, my photography session was quite lacking.) Since I started making swiss meringue buttercream in the summer, it’s been great trying out different flavors it will take, and the possibilities of this frosting, like those of the new decade, seem endless.

There, how lovely a sentiment is that?

Basic Vanilla Cupcakes
makes 12 regular cupcakes or 48 (!) mini cupcakes

My own go-to recipe for a vanilla cupcake is usually either the martha stewart version of a cupcake bakeshop version, but I decided to try one from crispy waffle. These turned out fluffy and moist, and very very buttery, but they didn't give me the lovely domes martha usually does.

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg yolks, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the oven rack in the middle position. Grease and flour a 12-cup muffin tin.
   
2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
   
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light colored and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
   
4. Add the egg, egg yolks and vanilla and beat at medium speed until thoroughly incorporated.
   
5. Add the sour cream and beat until incorporated.
   
6. Add the flour mixture and beat until just incorporated.
   
7. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
   
8. Remove and cool to room temperature on a rack, about 45 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the frosting of your choice.

Cranberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup cranberry sauce

4 egg whites

1 cup granulated sugar

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 sticks of butter, at room temperature (I actually use salted butter)

1. Combine the sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar and water in the stainless steel bowl of an electric mixer (i.e. your KitchenAid bowl). Bring a large pan of water to simmer, making sure that the water is a the same height as the egg whites in your stainless bowl. Set the bowl in the pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Be really careful not to curdle the egg whites-- simply remove the bowl from the heat for a bit if it feels like that's happening. Also, you'll know when it's getting close to 160 degrees; the mixture will be getting ultra foamy, like the top of a latte. (A really good latte that is-- one of those kinds where it has a leaf-pattern on top, you know what I'm talking about.)
2. Remove the bowl to your stand mixer and beat on high speed for 3-5 minutes, until the mixture holds glossy, marshmallowy peaks. Remove the meringue to another bowl.
3. In the standing mixer, beat half the butter and one-third of the meringue until well combined. Continue to add the remaining two-thirds of the meringue a dollop at a time. The mixture may look scarily curdled at this point; adding the remaining butter a tablespoon at a time will smooth things out. (Basically, just keep adding a bit of butter at a time until the curdling corrects itself.)
4. With the mixer on low, add the cranberry sauce and mix until well-combined.
5. Frost the cupcakes using an offset spatula.