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Dessert

Jefferson Fruit Cake

A dense fruit cake with butter, brown sugar, dried fruit, spices, molasses, and wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓

Jefferson 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

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

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and dark brown sugar together until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  3. Stir in the grated nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground cinnamon.

  4. Mix in the chopped figs, raisins, currants, and chopped almonds.

  5. In a separate bowl, combine the browned flour and baking soda, then add to the mixture.

  6. Pour in the molasses and wine, mixing until well combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 1.5 to 2 hours, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + figtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together614 recipes

    Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).

  5. Clove + figtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness, and creaming it traps air for a lighter crumb.
Browned flour
Provides the structure of the cake and a toasted, nutty flavour.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses and wine acids to help the cake rise.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
Dark brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and caramel notes to the batter.

The step that matters

Checking doneness with a toothpick. This cake is dense and heavy with dried fruit and nuts, so it can look set on the outside while the centre is still wet. Test the centre with a toothpick, and check that it comes out clean before removing the cake from the oven.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, egg):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figthe original
  4. Lemonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, egg. 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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