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Dessert

English Currant Cake

A sweet cake made with flour, currants, candied lemon peel, yeast, butter, and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,404 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

English Currant Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine 3 pounds sifted flour, 1 pound butter, and lard.

  2. Rub 1 pound soft white sugar into the flour mixture until fine like meal.

  3. Chip 2 ounces candied lemon peel.

  4. Wash currants and add to the mixture while it is dry.

Make the dough

  1. Scald milk and mix into a stiff batter like biscuit dough.

  2. Dissolve 1 yeast cake in sweet milk and mix into the batter.

Rise and bake

  1. Put dough into warmed greased pans shaped like buns and set to rise overnight.

  2. Bake in a slow oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

529Calories
14 gProtein
2 gFat
115 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
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 Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [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. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Currant + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,270 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Flour + curranttop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,077 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Currants
Add sweetness, moisture and chewy pieces throughout the cake.
Yeast cake
Produces gas in the dough so it rises and becomes light.
Candied lemon peel
Adds bright citrus aroma and a sweet, chewy bite.

The step that matters

Set the dough to rise overnight in warm pans. Yeast works slowly and needs warmth and time to produce gas. A cool or rushed rise leaves the buns dense, so the dough needs a warm, sheltered spot to grow.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, lemon):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, lemon. 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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