Recipe: Martha Washington Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Variations

Martha Washington Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and Variations
Newsgroup posting by Tina Schuler (1998)

Here is a recipe for Martha Washington Cake. The recipe is actually an old family favorite from my grandmother. Its been a family staple for more than 50 years. I've seen George Washington Cake but never his wife's in recipe books. It's a very heavy and dense sweet yellow cake and my grandmother always made it with peanut butter frosting. In all my cake baking and watching Martha over the years, I've refined the recipe a bit which gives it a lighter texture and lessens the sweetness a bit. I've posted both versions below in case you want to try it both ways... and a few ideas of how I like to assemble it.

(Original) Martha Washington Cake:

1/2 lb. butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites, stiffly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk

Cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat until light. Add egg yolks one at a time. Add the vanilla. Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately in 2 stages with milk. Fold beaten egg whites into the batter just until combined.

Divide batter between three 8-inch *waxed paper lined baking pans and bake at 350 for 25 - 35 minutes or until golden and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans, peel off waxed paper and cool on rack.

*My grandmother never greased and floured her pans, she would completely line the pans (bottom and sides) with a piece of waxed paper and then trimmed the excess off.

My refined version of Martha Washington Cake:

1/2 lb. butter, softened
1-3/4 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites, beaten to soft peaks
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups (minus 6 tbsp) all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup milk

Cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy about 5 minutes. Scrape down bowl and add egg yolks one at a time, beat 20 seconds after each. Add the vanilla. Sift flour three times and then add other dry ingredients and sift again. Add flour mixture alternately in 3 stages with milk. Scrape bowl and beat on high for 30 seconds. Fold beaten egg whites into the batter just until combined. Don't overfold.

Divide batter between two 9" parchment lined, greased and floured baking pans and bake at 350 for 25 - 35 minutes or until golden and knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans 15 minutes. Then remove, peel off parchment and cool on racks.

I also use those baking strips by Wilton that you dampen and wrap around the edges of your pans for the cake to bake level and evenly. They work great (especially if you use black pans) and I wouldn't think of making a cake without them.

Some options for frosting and decorating:

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup peanut butter
1 lb confectioner's sugar
7 - 8 TBS milk
1 tsp vanilla

Blend 1/3 of sugar and the peanut butter together. Alternately add remaining sugar and milk. Add vanilla. Add more peanut butter to taste is desired.

or

Use a Chocolate Ganache or a Chocolate Buttercream (add 4-6 oz bittersweet choc and 1 - 2 TBSP of room temp coffee to Martha's Italian Meringue buttercream).

or

Lemon/Raspberry Cake
Add the juice of half a lemon to Martha's Italian Meringue Buttercream. Heat and strain some raspberry preserves and brush lightly on the cake and then frost with the buttercream. Decorate the top with fresh raspberries. (When I make this one I usually make a very, very small portion of homemade preserves because the store bought are too sweet for me.)

Pudding/Whipped Cream Cake
Use Instant Vanilla pudding (made according to box and chilled for 15 minutes) as a filling. Place some fresh blueberries into the pudding (about 1-inch apart) to help hold up the second layer of cake so the pudding doesn't squeeze out. Frost with whipped cream (or Cool Whip if you must). Then garnish with fresh blueberries and strawberries.