So after picking up a new cake book, All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray (the producer of NPR's ATC), my co-worker (and fellow cake aficionado) and I decided we needed some Cake Mondays in our lives as well. Why let those NPR folks have all the fun? Initially, I really wanted to make my Baklava Cheesecake because it is one of my all time favorite recipes and I haven't made it in what seems like ages. Keith however, staunchly disagreed, "Aryanna. You cannot make cheesecake! It's against the rules. The whole point is to be a challenge and you've already mastered the cheesecake discipline." Now according to Melissa Gray's rules, it has to be a completely from scratch absolutely no cake mixes recipe and you have to change it up every week. I don't recall the challenge being part of it, but I guess it was one of those unwritten rules.

Begrudgingly, I tucked my Baklava Cheesecake recipe to the back of my head ready to make an appearance eventually some Cake Monday in the future. Once I finally accepted the fact that I would be making a completely new cake I've never tried before, I thought it was only fitting to use one of Ms. Gray's recipes since she was the inspiration for the project and what better recipe to choose than the cake that inspired her project: Martha Washington's Great Cake.

The original recipe was preserved by Martha Custis Washington's granddaughter and the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association hands it out every holiday season. According to them, the Great Cake was served as an anniversary cake as the Washingtons were married on January 6, 1759, the twelfth day of Christmas. And for those of you who think of our first First Lady, as the white haired wrinkle faced old lady often portrayed, check out this post, Yes, Martha was a hottie! I was sold on Martha's hottie status when I caught a glimpse at her sassy purple wedding shoes on display at Mount Vernon. Anyway, the original recipe is as follows:

Take 40 eggs and divide the whites from the yolks and beat them to a froth. Then work 4 pounds of butter to a cream and 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 Yolks of eggs and 5 pounds of flour 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 fresh brandy.

Holy cow. Those servants must have been furiously cracking and whipping those eggs. Thank god for modern conveniences like electricity and that handy and lovely machine, the stand mixer. Melissa Gray's recipe is much more suited to the home kitchen, but is still a beast of a cake with 10 eggs and 1 lb. of butter.

Martha Washington's Great Cake from All Cakes Considered
Ingredients
Makes one 10 inch tube cake that will serve about 20-30 slices depending on size.
10 large eggs
4 sticks of butter, or 1 lb. unsalted! and at room temp.
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of sugar
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground mace
2 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/4 cup wine
1/4 cup brandy
1 1/4 pound assorted fruits and nuts, chopped or sliced

Ms. Gray gives us a little cheat sheet for how much to use of which fruits, and suggests you use about 18 oz of fruit and 2 oz of nuts, but you can pretty much wing it to suit your own tastes or accommodate whatever fruits and nuts you might have left over from your holiday baking.

Instructions

1. Grease the bottom, but not sides of  a10 inch tube pan and set aside. Position the rack so that the cake will sit in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F.
2. Separate the eggs whites, collecting the whites in the bowl of a mixer and set the yolks aside.
3. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks using the whisk attachment of your mixer.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, or after moving your egg whites to another bowl, cream the butter. Slowly fold in a third of the beaten egg whites until incorporated. *make sure its really incorporated well or those chunks of butter will break up your batter later.* Repeat two times until you've added all the egg whites. 
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. Then fold in the fruits and nuts.
8. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until done, making very sure not to over cook it since it will go back into the oven after it's frosted.
9. Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, and then unmold to a cake rack. 

Meringue-ish Frosting
Ingredients
3 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons orange extract

Instructions

1. When the cake is almost cool, preheat the oven to 200F and start whipping those egg whites!
2. Whip together those egg whites and add 2 tablespoons of the confectioners' sugar. Continue adding sugar 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition.
3. As I'm not a fan of fruit zests in my frostings, I skipped over the lemon zest, which you would add here, and I went straight on to add the orange extract. Beat until the frosting is stiff enough to stay parted when cut through with a knife.

Overall, this cake tasted a little like bread pudding because of all of the fruits and nuts. It is also a very heavy cake and can feed a small army of minions or a large family gathering or somewhere between 25-30 slices. It did not have a very cakey texture and made me think more of a heavy fruity bread loaf. The flavor was great, and of all the fruits and nuts I used, I would definitely recommend using some dried apricots. The sweet, moistness of the apricots really brought a lot to the cake and the slices without it were definitely lack-luster.

Also, I'm not really sure how the frosting recipe is much different from royal icing. Perhaps it was because of the humidity down here in New Orleans, but the egg whites could not stand up to that much confectioners sugar and orange extract and be any thing more than a runny mess the consistency of royal icing. Even after making it twice, with the same results, I slapped it on the cake and begrudgingly stuck it into the oven. It definitely did not have the thickness of the frosting in her picture, so I think next time I will decrease both the amount of sugar and the amount of extract.

~Happy Baking!