Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Eccles Cakes or Tarts
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Combine currants, sugar, lemon peel, ginger, and cinnamon in a bowl, and mix well.
Shape the pastries
Roll out pastry to ¼ inch thick.
Cut into 2‑inch square pieces.
Place a teaspoon of the currant mixture in the center of each pastry square.
Fold the edges over the filling, allowing them to overlap slightly in the center.
Flatten the pastries with your hand and turn them over, folded side down.
Roll them out gently with a rolling pin until the filling breaks through.
Place on baking pans.
Make a few cuts on top.
Glaze and bake
Wash with milk or a milk and egg mixture.
Dust with sugar.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.
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.
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.
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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Lemon + gingertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,154 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Currant + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,099 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Currants
- Provide the sweet, chewy filling that becomes soft and juicy as the pastry bakes.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top caramelise to a golden finish.
- Short crust pastry or puff pastry
- Forms the flaky or tender case that encloses the filling and bakes crisp.
- Milk or milk and egg mixture (in the method)
- Promotes browning and gives the pastry tops a glossy golden colour.
The step that matters
Rolling until the filling breaks through. Rolling gently only until the currants just show keeps the pastry from tearing excessively or the filling from leaking out and burning during baking, while still letting steam escape through the cuts.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, ginger, cinnamon):
- Orangefits better
- Limefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, ginger, cinnamon. 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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