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Dessert

Bachelor Cake

A spiced fruit cake made with flour, butter, sultanas, currants, sugar, spices, baking soda, cream of tartar, and buttermilk, baked for 1½–2 hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Margaret · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Bachelor Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Take 1 lb. of flour and 1 lb. of butter.

  2. Add 1 lb. of sultanas, 1 lb. of currants, and 1 lb. of sugar.

  3. Add 1 teaspoonful of allspice, 1 teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoonful of Jamaica pepper, and 1 teaspoonful of ground ginger.

  4. Add 1 teaspoonful of baking soda, 1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar, and a pinch of salt.

  5. Add a little buttermilk.

  6. Mix dry ingredients together.

  7. Rub in butter.

  8. Beat eggs and buttermilk.

  9. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients.

Bake

  1. Bake for one-and-a-half to two hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

597Calories
20 gProtein
12 gFat
99 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Hamilton, Margaret. 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. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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 (in the method)
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and add structure and richness to the cake.
Baking soda
Reacts with acidic ingredients to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the batter so the baking soda releases gas effectively.
Sugar (in the method)
Adds sweetness and helps browning during baking.

The step that matters

Rub in butter. Rubbing cold butter into the dry ingredients coats the flour particles and limits gluten development, keeping the crumb tender. Over-working the mixture or melting the butter changes the texture.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, allspice, pepper):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, allspice, pepper. 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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