Martha Washington's Virginia Cake Recipe: Another Version

The cake recipe presented as belonging to Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, the first First Lady of the United States of America, is originally the type of cake that was traditionally served on the Twelfth Night festival marking the Epiphany*. The cake -- perhaps large enough to feed an entire high school -- contains 40 eggs, 4 pounds of butter, 5 pounds of flour, 5 pounds of (dried) fruits, and more than half a pint of wine and brandy combined (source)

Different versions of Martha Washington's so-called Virginia Cake recipe float about on the interwebs and, apparently, people have taken the liberty of playing around with the original butter:flour:egg ratio resulting in recipes that perhaps bear little resemblance to what Mrs. Washington made. I decided to go with the version adapted by Jeff "The Frugal Gourmet" Smith.


The original version by Martha Washington reportedly contains only some wine and French brandy. However, Smith, citing the first president's penchant for whiskey (after all, he had a distillery at Mount Vernon), decided to add whiskey to the mix. "I believe that the father of our land would approve," said the Frugal Gourmet**.

(The baked cake needs to sit for 24 hours before being served. This allows the alcohol to mellow out a lot. Still, this is perhaps not a kid-friendly recipe.)

Martha Washington's Virginia Cake as Interpreted by Jeff Smith
Adapted from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks America
Makes 2 loaves
Downloadable Version


1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened
3 cups flour (I've increased the amount to 3 1/2 cups as the first batch was too wet.)
3/4 cup brown sugar (Smith uses 1/2 cup of white sugar.)
1/2 teaspoon salt (not included in Smith's recipe)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 cup sweet wine (Smith used port, but I switch back and forth between sweet marsala and port.)
1/4 cup brandy (Martha Washington used French brandy; I used bourbon from, uh, Kentucky.)
1 1/2 cups diced dried figs (the original calls for assorted dried fruits fruitcake-style; I use four kinds of dried figs: kadota, kalamata, Black Mission, and calimyrna, just because I adore them. You can use whatever dried fruits you like.)
6 large eggs, separated***
1 cup whiskey

• Preheat the oven to 325° F. Grease two 8" x 4" x 2 1/2" loaf pans; set aside.
• Cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks, one at a time.
• Add the sweet wine and brandy to the mixture; mix well.
• Manually stir in the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt; mix just until the mixture is homogeneous.
• In a separate, grease-free mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
• Gently fold the egg whites into the four mixture along with the diced dried fruits.
• Divide the batter between the two loaf pans.
• Bake for about 45 minutes or until a knife stuck into the middle (of the cake, of course) comes out clean.
• Let the cakes cool inside the pans. Once they have cooled, pour half of the whiskey over each. Cover each pan with a piece of foil and allow it to sit for 24 hours before serving.
  

*The Washingtons, as it so happened, wedded on the January 6th -- the Twelfth Night of Christmas -- in 1759 (source)

**Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American (New York, NY: William Morrow, 1987) p. 113.

***I skip this part because 1. I'm lazy, 2. I have only one mixer and mixer bowl and don't want to have to clean the bowl in which I cream the butter in order to beat the egg whites in it (egg whites will not form soft or stiff peaks when whipped in a greasy bowl or with a greasy beater), and 3. I prefer a denser cake which is quite delicious toasted and generously buttered.