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Dessert

Wedding Cake

A spiced fruit cake made with currants, dates, raisins, citron, spices, brandy, butter, brown sugar, eggs, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Wedding 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and brown sugar together.

  2. Add the egg yolks, part of the flour, spices, and part of the brandy. Mix well.

  3. Add the remaining flour.

  4. Add the beaten egg whites.

  5. Fold in the fruit that has been lightly rolled in flour.

  6. Dissolve the baking soda in water, then add it to the mixture.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a lined baking pan.

  2. Bake for 5 to 6 hours.

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.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites add lift and a light crumb, while yolks add richness and moisture to the batter.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay soft.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the dense fruit and batter together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the batter to help it rise and lighten the crumb.
Raisins
Add moisture, chewiness and sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Folding in the fruit. Fruit coated lightly in flour is less likely to sink to the bottom of the batter, because the flour helps it grip the batter as it sets.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (currant, raisin, cinnamon, mace, allspice, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against currant, raisin, cinnamon, mace, allspice, clove, nutmeg. 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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