Skip to main content
Dessert

Wedding Cake

A fruit cake made with currants, dates, raisins, citron, spices, butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, brandy, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Wedding Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Dissolve the baking soda in water.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and brown sugar together.

  2. Add the egg yolks and mix well.

  3. Incorporate part of the flour, spices, and part of the brandy.

  4. Add the remaining flour and then the egg whites.

  5. Fold in the fruit that has been lightly rolled in flour.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a lined baking pan.

  2. Bake for 5 to 6 hours.

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.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg yolks and whites add richness, structure and lift to the batter as it sets.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Brown sugar
Creamed with butter, it adds sweetness, moisture and a caramel note.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity in the mixture to help the cake rise and brown.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture to the finished cake.

The step that matters

Bake for 5 to 6 hours. A long, low bake lets the heavy fruit-filled batter set through the centre without the outside burning. Checking doneness before removing the cake prevents a gummy middle.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (currant, raisin, cinnamon, mace, allspice, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against currant, raisin, cinnamon, mace, allspice, clove, 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 wedding cake recipes

Black 6Fruit 5Rich 4Icing 4Pudding 4Montgomery 3 See all 105 →

You might also like

Cinnamon RollsCinnamon Rolls71 recipesBrandy PeachesBrandy Peaches68 recipesRed Currant JellyRed Currant Jelly65 recipesClove CakeClove Cake53 recipes