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Hartford Election Cake

A spiced cake with raisins, citron, and spices baked at 300°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Hartford Election Cake

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Hartford Election Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the starter

  1. Boil a small handful of hops in 1 quart of water.

  2. Strain the hops and pour the boiling water over enough flour to make a thin batter.

  3. When the batter cools, add ½ pint of distillery yeast, strain again, and let stand until light.

  4. Make this the day before baking.

Make the dough

  1. In the morning, cream together the butter and lard.

  2. Add the sugar and mix thoroughly.

  3. Take a little less than half of the creamed mixture and rub it into the warmed flour.

  4. Warm the milk (do not heat) and add the yeast.

  5. Mix this with the flour, butter, and sugar mixture.

  6. Let it stand in a warm place until very light, about 9 or 10 o'clock at night. Do not disturb while rising.

  7. Beat the eggs separately and mix with the remaining shortening and sugar.

  8. Add the spices and wine.

  9. Combine all mixtures and let rise a second time.

Bake

  1. The next morning, fill pans two-thirds full, adding the fruit in thick layers to prevent it from settling.

  2. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until done.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the cake once it is mixed into the batter and dough.
Eggs
Add richness and help bind the batter while adding structure as they set in the oven.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and helps brown the crumb while feeding the yeast.
Unsalted butter
Contributes fat for tenderness and rich flavor throughout the crumb.
Raisins
Add sweetness, chewy texture, and fruity bulk distributed through the cake.
Homemade yeast
Leavens the dough so it rises and becomes light before baking.

The step that matters

Layering the fruit in the pans. Heavy fruit sinks through a loose batter during baking, so layering thick portions and filling pans two-thirds full helps keep it evenly distributed.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, raisin, egg, milk, 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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