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Dessert

On Dessert Cakes in General

A moist cake made with currants, orange, lemon, and green citron peel, almonds, spices, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

On Dessert Cakes in General

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.

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, cream the butter with a wooden spoon until smooth.

  2. Gradually add the sugar, flour, salt, and eggs, mixing continuously.

  3. Incorporate the remaining ingredients until well combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a prepared tin lined with buttered paper.

  2. Place the tin on a baking sheet lined with double sheets of paper.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 2.5 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. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the structure and bind the batter as they cook.
Ground almonds
Add tenderness and a moist, rich crumb.
Currants
Add sweetness and chewy pockets of fruit.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor to the fruit and batter.
Caramel or burnt sugar coloring
Deepens the cake's colour.
Orange zest
Adds bright citrus aroma and flavor.

The step that matters

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 2.5 hours. A dense, fruit-heavy batter needs a long, moderate bake so the centre sets fully before the outside over-browns. The double-lined sheet under the tin insulates the base, which helps it cook evenly and avoids a scorched bottom.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, lemon, egg, brandy, sugar, almond, cinnamon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, lemon, egg, brandy, sugar, almond, 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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