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Dessert

Wedding Cake II

A rich butter and molasses cake with raisins, currants, citrus rinds, spices, brandy, and chocolate, baked by steaming and then finishing in a warm oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Wedding Cake II

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter, add sugar gradually, and beat thoroughly.

  2. Separate yolks from whites of eggs, and beat yolks until thick and lemon-colored.

  3. Add the yolks to the first mixture.

  4. Add flour (excepting one-third cup, which should be reserved to dredge fruit).

  5. Mix and sift the flour with spices.

  6. Dredge fruit with flour.

  7. Add finely chopped lemon rind and orange rind, brandy, chocolate, and whites of eggs beaten until stiff and dry.

  8. Just before putting into pans, add soda dissolved in hot water.

Steam and finish

  1. Cover pans with buttered paper, and steam four hours.

  2. Finish cooking by leaving in a warm oven overnight.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1056Calories
23 gProtein
28 gFat
180 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 15 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Allspice1 tsp ground (1.9g)5
Macenot in our table0
Brandynot in our table0
Waternot 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 Fannie Merritt Farmer. 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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs
Yolks enrich and bind the batter; whites beaten stiff lighten its texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and its molasses notes deepen the color and flavor.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the heavy fruit and batter together as the cake sets.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color and a rich, slightly acidic flavor.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to help the cake rise and lighten.

The step that matters

Add the soda dissolved in hot water just before putting into pans. Baking soda starts reacting as soon as it meets the acidic molasses and liquid, so delaying the batter's transfer to pans lets gas escape before baking. Adding it at the last moment keeps the rise active when the cake is set.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, molasses, flour, cinnamon, allspice. 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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