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Dessert

Ribbon Cake

Ribbon Cake is a layered fruit cake with raisins, citron, currants, molasses, spices, and icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Christ Church Episcopal (Burlington, Iowa) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓

Ribbon Cake

three loaves

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine 2½ cups sugar, 1 cupful butter, 1 cupful sweet milk, 1 teaspoon cream tartar, ½ teaspoon soda, 4 cups flour, and 4 eggs.

  2. Reserve a third of this mixture and bake the rest in 2 tins of the same size.

Make the fruit layer and bake

  1. Add to the reserved third of the mixture 1 cupful seeded raisins, ¼ pound citron, a cupful of currants, 2 tablespoons molasses, and a teaspoonful each of all kinds of spice.

  2. Bake in a tin the same size as the other loaves.

Assemble and frost

  1. Put the three loaves together with a little icing, placing the fruit layer in the middle.

  2. Frost the top and sides.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

702Calories
20 gProtein
7 gFat
139 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
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 Christ Church Episcopal (Burlington, Iowa). 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. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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's crumb together as it bakes.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, setting the crumb as they cook.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps give the crumb its tender texture and browning.
Soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep flavour and colour to the fruit layer.
Raisins
Add moisture, sweetness and chewy texture to the fruit layer.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, flour, egg, molasses):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Datesfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, flour, egg, molasses. 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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