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Dessert

Miss Belknap

A rich, spiced raisin and currant cake with molasses, wine, and brandy, baked slowly in a paper‑lined pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Keokuk (Iowa). Westminster Presbyterian church · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓

Miss Belknap

two good-sized cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream 1 pound butter and 1 pound brown sugar until smooth.

  2. Beat in 12 eggs lightly, then stir in 3 pounds raisins, 3 pounds currants, 1½ pounds citron cut into large slips, 2 tablespoonfuls powdered mace, 2 tablespoonfuls cinnamon, 2 tablespoonfuls allspice, 1 tablespoon cloves, and 2 nutmegs.

  3. Stir in 1 tumbler molasses, half a pint wine, and the same amount brandy.

  4. Brown half a pound of flour, then roll the currants and raisins in the browned flour.

  5. Add the remaining flour to the mixture; the batter yields two good‑sized cakes.

Bake

  1. Line two pans with two thicknesses of heavy brown paper, pour batter, and bake in a slow oven for 3–4 hours, according to size.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

792Calories
20 gProtein
19 gFat
128 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
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Macenot in our table0
Cakenot 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 Keokuk (Iowa). Westminster Presbyterian church. 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. Raisin + flourtop 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. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creamed with sugar to give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Beaten in to add structure and bind the heavy batter together.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the fruit and batter together as the cake sets.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep brown color to the cake.
Raisins
Add sweetness and chewy moisture throughout the cake.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavor to the batter.

The step that matters

Rolling the currants and raisins in browned flour. Flour-coated fruit grips the batter and is less likely to sink to the bottom of the cake while it bakes, so the fruit stays evenly spread.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, flour, butter, wine, egg, nutmeg, molasses. 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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