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Dessert

Dried Apple Cake

A cake made with dried apples stewed in molasses, spiced with cinnamon, mace, and cloves, mixed with butter, egg, flour, and raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Dried Apple Cake

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Dried Apple Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the apples

  1. Soak the dried apples in cold water overnight.

  2. Drain any remaining water, chop the apples, and stew them with the spices in the molasses for 20 minutes.

  3. Let the mixture cool, then add the creamed butter and egg.

Make the batter and bake

  1. Dissolve the baking soda in 1 tablespoon of boiling water and add it to the mixture along with the flour and raisins.

  2. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses and rises the batter, lightening its crumb.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps set the crumb during baking.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deep color to the cake.
Dried apples
Provide fruity flavor and moisture as they soften in the batter.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda before adding it. Baking soda must be fully dissolved in the boiling water so it mixes evenly. Clumps can leave pockets of bitter flavor and uneven rising.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, apple, molasses, raisin, flour, cinnamon, clove):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, apple, molasses, raisin, flour, cinnamon, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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