Name: Mother Dorchester's Black Cake
Ingredients: one pound sugar; one pound butter; one pound flour; three pounds raisins; three pounds currants; one-half pound citron; two teaspoons cinnamon; two teaspoons nutmeg; ten eggs; one tea- spoon cloves; one wine glass of brandy

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 ↓

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,377 recipes

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

Eggs: Provide structure and richness as they set during baking.
Flour: Forms the structure of the cake, and browning it deepens the colour.
Butter: Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps browning and moisture retention.
Raisins: Add sweetness and moisture, especially when soaked in liquor.
Currants: Add sweetness, chewiness and moisture to the cake.

The step that matters

Bake from two to four hours. A dense cake rich in fruit, sugar and fat needs long, gentle baking so the centre sets fully. Removing it too early can leave the middle wet and gummy, while baking too long can dry the outside.

Swap the currant

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

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Lemonfits better
Currantthe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Brandy	not in our table	0

Mother Dorchester's Black Cake