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Dessert

Black Cake

A dense fruit cake made with flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, raisins, currants, citron, nuts, eggs, orange juice, and grated nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Black Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream butter and sugar.

  2. Beat eggs well and add to the mixture.

  3. Stir in flour, beating very hard.

  4. Add fruit last.

  5. Dredge fruit in some flour so it will not sink to the bottom of the cake.

Bake and cool

  1. Bake for 3 hours and leave in pan until cold.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

648Calories
21 gProtein
10 gFat
116 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2

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

By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog]. 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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 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. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as they set in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and turn light.

The step that matters

Dredge the fruit in flour. Fruit is heavier than the batter and sinks during baking. A light coating of flour helps it grip the batter and stay suspended through the cake.

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, ginger, cinnamon, orange, egg, nutmeg):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Cashew nutfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, ginger, cinnamon, orange, egg, 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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