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Dessert

A Rich Fruit Cake

A rich fruit cake made with flour, butter, sugar, currants, raisins, almonds, citron, mace, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Randolph (1762–1828) · 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 ↓

A Rich Fruit Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Have four pounds of flour dried and sifted.

  2. Have four pounds of butter washed to free it from salt.

  3. Have two pounds of loaf sugar pounded.

  4. Have a quarter pound of mace, and the same amount of nutmegs powdered.

  5. Wash four pounds of currants clean, then pick and dry them.

  6. Blanch one pound of sweet almonds and cut them into very thin slices.

  7. Stone two pounds of raisins and cut them in two.

  8. Strew a little flour over the raisins to prevent sticking.

  9. Slice two pounds of citron thin.

  10. Break thirty eggs and separate the yolks and whites.

Make the cake

  1. Work the butter to a cream with your hand.

  2. Beat the froth from both whites and yolks separately.

  3. Put in alternately flour, sugar, and the froth.

  4. When all are mixed and the cake looks very light, add the spice, with half a pint of brandy, the currants and almonds.

Bake and ice

  1. Butter the mould well.

  2. Pour in part of the cake, strew over it some raisins and citron, and do this until all is in.

  3. Set it in a well heated oven.

  4. When it has risen and the top is coloured, cover it with paper.

  5. Bake for three hours.

  6. Ice the cake.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

675Calories
14 gProtein
14 gFat
124 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 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
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot in our table0
Brandynot 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 Mary Randolph (1762–1828). 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. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Butter
Creamed with the sugar, it adds richness and a tender crumb.
Eggs (in the method)
Whipped yolks and whites add air and help the cake rise.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, creamed texture.
Currants
Add fruitiness and moisture, and sweetness as they plump in the batter.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy fruit pieces throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Put in alternately flour, sugar, and the froth.. The whipped froth is the main lift in this batter. Folding it in gently, alternating with flour and sugar, keeps the air trapped. Overbeating or crushing it leaves a dense cake that rises poorly in the oven.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, currant, almond, raisin, brandy):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, currant, almond, raisin, brandy. 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.

More fruit cake recipes

White 89Black 40Christmas 29Eggless 27Molasses 23Apple 17 See all 952 →

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