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Dessert

Black Cake

A dense fruit cake made with browned flour, raisins, currants, molasses, brandy, and spices, baked for four hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓

Black Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat butter and brown sugar to a cream.

  2. Beat eggs well.

  3. Stir the beaten eggs into the butter-sugar mixture alternately with the browned flour.

  4. Gradually add raisins (dredged with flour), currants, two tablespoonfuls of cloves, two of cinnamon, one of mace, two nutmegs, one tumbler of molasses, and one of brandy.

  5. Slice one pound of citron thinly.

Bake

  1. Layer a portion of batter and several slices of citron in the mold alternately until the mold is filled.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven for four hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

678Calories
20 gProtein
8 gFat
131 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 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
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
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 Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo. 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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Browned flour
Provides the structure that holds the heavy batter together as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help it set, giving the cake structure and richness.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the creamed base.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps keep the cake moist and deeply flavoured.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
Raisins
Add sweetness, moisture and chewy texture throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Layering the batter and citron in the mold. Heavy fruit sinks toward the bottom during baking, so spreading the batter and citron in alternating layers keeps the fruit distributed and prevents a dense, uneven cake.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, raisin, egg, clove, nutmeg, molasses, cinnamon. 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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