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Mint Cases

A sweet cake made with mint leaves, flour, sugar, butter, eggs, yeast, and candied citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Frances Crawford · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mint Cases

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mint liquid

  1. Chop fresh mint leaves coarsely.

  2. Place the leaves in a saucepan with a cover and boil for half an hour.

  3. Squeeze the decoction through a cloth, not too hard.

Make the dough

  1. Moisten two pounds of flour, three quarters of a pound of sugar, one pound of fresh butter, and a little yeast.

  2. Cut or rasp some candied citron and add it to the mixture.

  3. Add the yolks of four eggs.

  4. Let the mixture rise for an hour in a warm place.

  5. Shape the paste into cakes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

684Calories
19 gProtein
18 gFat
108 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

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

By Frances Crawford. 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 + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 main structure of the dough that holds the cakes together.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender texture to the dough.
Eggs
Yolks add richness and help bind the dough.
Yeast
Produces gas that makes the dough rise.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps browning.

The step that matters

Let the mixture rise for an hour in a warm place. Yeast needs warmth to produce gas steadily; if the dough is too cold it will not rise properly, and if it is left too long it can over-proof and collapse.

“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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