Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Plain Fruit Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the milk and brandy.
In a separate bowl, combine the raisins, currants, and citron.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined.
Pour the batter into two greased loaf pans.
Bake
Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender crumb by coating flour and sugar with fat.
- Sugar
- Creams with butter to trap air and adds sweetness and moisture to the cake.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps the batter spread evenly in the pans.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
- Currants
- Add tart, chewy fruit pieces and moisture throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Fold the dry ingredients in until just combined. Mixing past the point of combination develops gluten in the flour, which makes the crumb tough and dense rather than tender.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream, sugar, egg, raisin, milk, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Apricotfits about as well
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, sugar, egg, raisin, milk, brandy. 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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