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Dessert

Black Cake

A dense fruit cake made with brown sugar, molasses, raisins, currants, citron, spices, and sweet milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin 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 ↓

Black Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream together two cups brown sugar and one and a half cups butter until light and fluffy.

  2. Beat in six eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  3. Stir in three cups flour, brown the flour, two tablespoons molasses, one teaspoon cinnamon, one teaspoon mace, one teaspoon cloves, and two teaspoons cream tartar.

  4. Add two cups sweet milk and mix until combined.

  5. Fold in two pounds raisins, two cups currants, and half pound citron.

  6. Stir in one teaspoon soda.

Bake

  1. Bake for three hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

851Calories
28 gProtein
15 gFat
151 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
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 Women of the First Congregational Church (Marysville, Ohio). 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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
Eggs
Bind the batter and set during baking to add structure.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep caramel flavour.
Soda
Reacts with acidic ingredients to release gas and lift the cake.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a rich, treacle-like flavour.
Sweet milk
Hydrates the flour and keeps the batter moist.

The step that matters

Bake for three hours. A dense, fruit-heavy batter needs long, gentle baking so heat reaches the centre before the outside over-browns or dries out.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, molasses, milk, raisin, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, molasses, milk, raisin, 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.

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