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Dessert

Wedding Cake

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

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 and mix well.

  3. Stir in part of the flour, spices, and part of the brandy.

  4. Add the remaining flour and then the beaten egg whites.

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

Bake

  1. Line a wooden box with three layers of paper and pour in the batter.

  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

Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Yolks enrich and bind the batter; beaten whites add lift and a light structure.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure once it sets in the oven.
Brown sugar
Creams with butter for aeration and adds moisture and molasses flavor.
Raisins
Dried fruit that adds chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor, and helps keep the cake moist during long storage.

The step that matters

Bake for 5 to 6 hours. A long, low bake lets the heavy fruit-laden batter cook through evenly without the outside burning or the centre staying raw. Checking doneness with a skewer near the end helps prevent over- or under-baking.

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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