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Dessert

Marguerites, or Jelly Cakes

A rose-water flavored cake with jam filling and powdered sugar icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Marguerites, or Jelly Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the dough

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Rub together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Beat the egg yolks until thick, then sift in the flour and spices.

  4. Add the butter mixture and rose water, stirring well.

  5. Roll the dough to about ¼ inch thick and cut out cakes.

Bake and fill

  1. Bake for a few minutes until pale brown.

  2. Once cooled, spread each cake with peach jam or marmalade.

Ice and finish

  1. Beat the egg whites until light, then gradually add powdered sugar until thick.

  2. Flavor the icing with lemon or rose water and spoon it onto each cake, creating a peak.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with the sugar to add tenderness and richness to the dough.
Egg yolks
Enrich the dough and add richness and structure as they set in the oven.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the dough that holds the cut cakes together.
Egg whites
Whipped with powdered sugar to build a light, thick icing that holds its peak.
Peach jam or marmalade
Adds fruity sweetness and moisture between the cake and the icing.

The step that matters

Baking the cakes. Baking only until pale brown keeps the cakes tender and light. Over-baking dries the dough and darkens it, so watch them closely rather than following time alone.

Swap the mace

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

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

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