For Immediate Release May 26, 2005

Little known facts on Martha & digital images available

Media Contact: Melissa Wood (703) 799-5203

mwood@mountvernon.org  

MOUNT VERNON, Va. – Mount Vernon celebrates the 274th birthday of our first First Lady Thursday, June 2 with “Martha Washington” greeting visitors to the estate. Mrs. Washington lived an incredibly full and vibrant life, and will share what life was like with George Washington. In recognition of her birthday, if your name is Martha or you were born on June 2, admission to Mount Vernon is free for the day.

Martha Washington will welcome visitors Tuesday through Friday until June 21. Veteran interpreter Mary Wiseman presents a living biography of Mrs. Washington after portraying the First Lady at Colonial Williamsburg for more than a decade.

Mrs. Washington was born on June 2, 1731 at Chestnut Grove Plantation in New Kent County, Virginia. She was the eldest of eight children. In 1750 Martha Washington married Daniel Parke Custis and the couple had four children in their seven years together, only two of which survived to see Mount Vernon. In 1757 Custis died and a year later, she began courting George Washington. The two were married in 1759.

Martha Washington moved to Mount Vernon in 1759 with her two children, John “Jack” Parke Custis and Martha “Patsy” Parke Custis. In 1773, Patsy died after having a seizure. In 1781, her only remaining child, Jack Parke Custis died of camp fever at Yorktown.

Martha made the trip every winter to the winter quarters to spend time with her husband. While in military camp, she entertained visiting diplomats and the wives of fellow officers and assisted with secretarial duties. She led fundraising campaigns to provide the troops with much needed supplies.

Her good nature and fondness for guests was well known and she became known for her entertaining of guests, sometimes hundreds a year would visit, and was called a “lady of distinguished goodness.” Martha passed away at Mount Vernon in 1802.

Celebrate with Martha Washington’s Great Cake

The Original Recipe

Martha Washington’s great cake recipe results in the type of cake traditionally served for 12th Night, January 6. Also known as Epiphany it is the last of the 12 days of Christmas and also happens to be the date of George and Martha Washington’s wedding in 1759. The original recipe reads:

“Take 40 eggs and 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 [sic] to it in the same manner then put in the Youlks [sic] of eggs & 5 pounds of flower [sic] & 5 pounds of fruit. 2 hours will bake it add to it half an ounce of mace & nutmeg half a pint of wine & some frensh [sic] brandy.”

The Adapted Recipe for the Cake (serves 12-16)

10 eggs

1 lb. butter

1 lb. sugar

1¼ pounds (20 ounces) flour

1¼ pounds (20 ounces) fruit

2½ tsp. ground mace

2½ tsp. ground nutmeg

2 oz. wine

2 oz. French brandy

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Separate egg whites from yolks & set yolks aside. Beat egg whites to the “soft peak” stage.

3. Cream the butter.

4. Slowly add the beaten egg whites, one spoonful at a time, to the butter.

5. Add sugar slowly to egg whites & butter—again, one spoonful at a time.

6. Add egg yolks.

7. Add flour, slowly.

8. Add fruit. Since Mrs. Washington would have used anything that was seasonal or available dried, and since nuts were considered a fruit, for this adapted version use the following:

     a. 5 ounces of pear (peeled, cored, and diced—it is about 1 large pear);

     b. 9½ ounces of apple (peeled, cored, and diced—it is about 2 medium to large apples);

     c. 3 ½ ounces of raisins;

     d. 2 ounces sliced almonds (about ½ cup).

9. Add ground mace & nutmeg, wine & brandy. Cream sherry and other sorts of wine work well. Since one of George Washington’s favorites was Madeira that would certainly be an appropriate choice.

10. Lightly grease & flour a 10” springform cake pan.

11. Put batter into pan & place in oven. Bake for about 75 minutes.

12. When done, remove cake from oven & cool.

18th Century Icing Recipe from One of Martha Washington’s Cookbooks

 “Take two Pound of double refin’d Sugar, beat and sift it very fine, and likewise beat and sift a little Starch and mix with it, then beat six Whites of Eggs to Froth, and put to it some Gum-Water, the Gum must be steep’d in Orange-flower-water, then mix and beat all these together two Hours, and put it on your Cake: when it is baked, set it in the Oven again to harden a quarter of a Hour, take great Care it is not discolour’d. When it is drawn, ice it over the Top and Sides, take two Pound of double refin’d Sugar beat and sifted, and the Whites of three Eggs beat to a Froth, with three or four Spoonfuls of Orange-flower-water, and three Grains of Musk and Amber-grease together: put all these in a Stone Mortar, and beat these till it is as white as Snow, and with a Brush or Bundle of Feathers, spread it all over the Cake, and put it in the Oven to dry; but take Care the Oven does not discolor it. When it is cold paper it, and it will keep good five or six Weeks.”

Modern Adaptation of 18th Century Icing

Beat for 3 minutes:

3 egg whites

2 tablespoons 4X sugar (confectioner’s sugar)

Repeat additions of sugar until you have used up 1 ½ cups 4X sugar

Add: 1 teaspoon lemon peel grated

2 tablespoons orange-flower water

Beat until the icing is stiff enough to stay parted when a knife cuts through it. Smooth it onto the top and sides of a cake. Let it dry and harden in a 200 degree F. oven for 1 hour. (Note: icing will be brittle & shatters when you cut into the cake. Don’t be surprised when this happens.)

(From: Louise Conway Belden, The Festive Tradition: Table Decoration and Desserts in America, 1650-1900 (New York and London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983,) 260.

Events, programs, and activities are subject to change.

Public Information: 703-780-2000; 703-799-8697 (TDD); www.mountvernon.org George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, open to the public since 1860, communicates the character and leadership of Washington to millions of Americans each year through a variety of interpretive programs on the Estate and in classrooms across the nation. Mount Vernon is owned and operated by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, founded in 1853, making it America’s oldest national preservation organization. Mount Vernon is located at the southern end of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, just 16 miles from Washington, D.C. Hours of operation: April-August, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; March, September, October, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; November – February, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Regular admission rates for 2005: adults, $11.00; senior citizens, $10.50; children age 6-11, when accompanied by an adult, $5.00; and children under age 5, FREE. Admission fees, restaurant and retail proceeds, along with private donations, support the operation and restoration of Mount Vernon.

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