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Dessert

Fruit Cake

A large fruit cake made with flour, sugar, butter, candied citron, currants, raisins, spices, brandy, eggs, and optional almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 13 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 ↓

Fruit Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit and batter

  1. Mix the fruit together and flour it.

  2. Mix the spices with the sugar.

  3. Cream the butter and sugar.

  4. Add the beaten yolks.

  5. Add the whipped whites and the brandy.

  6. Add the flour.

  7. Add the fruit.

Bake

  1. Put the mixture in two large tins lined with double paper.

  2. Add sliced citron in layers as the mixture is poured into the pans, if preferred.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven for three hours.

Optional variations

  1. Substitute one pound of chopped almonds for one pound of currants, if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

771Calories
20 gProtein
20 gFat
128 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
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 Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks enrich and bind the batter, while whipped whites lighten its structure as it bakes.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and gives the cake a tender, rich texture.
Sugar
Creamed with butter, it adds sweetness and helps give the cake its crumb and browning.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets in the oven.
Currants
Add moisture and sweetness to the fruit cake as they soften during baking.
Raisins
Add moisture and chewy sweetness throughout the fruit cake.

The step that matters

Add the whipped whites and the brandy. Whipped whites hold air that lifts the batter, and folding them in gently keeps that air from collapsing. Overmixing deflates the batter and leaves a denser cake.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

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

More fruit cake recipes

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

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