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Dessert

Raised Loaf Cake

A sweet yeast loaf cake with raisins, spices, butter, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Raised Loaf Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Mix three cups milk, two cups sugar, one cup yeast, and flour to make a thick batter.

  2. Stand the batter till light.

Mix the dough

  1. Add two cups sugar, two cups butter, two eggs, raisins, and spices.

  2. Mix sugar and butter with eggs, well beaten.

  3. Mix dough with the ingredients, beating very thoroughly.

  4. Add spices and fruit.

Rise and bake

  1. Stand from one to three hours in the tins.

  2. Allow to rise before baking, after putting in the pans.

  3. Mix six cups light dough, three cups sugar, one and one-half cups butter, three eggs, small teaspoon of saleratus, spice, and fruit as you please.

  4. Ensure dough is light, using bread or biscuit dough; if biscuit dough is used, use a little less shortening; use good homemade yeast.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

870Calories
28 gProtein
27 gFat
122 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Brandynot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.). 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. See the original page.

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,427 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  4. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Produces gas that makes the batter and dough light and airy.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and add structure and richness to the crumb.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps browning in the baked crumb.
Milk
Provides moisture and helps form the thick batter.

The step that matters

Letting the batter and dough rise fully. Yeast needs time and warmth to produce gas; under-proofed dough bakes dense, while the rise must finish before baking to give a light loaf.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, butter, egg, wine, brandy, 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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