Name: Blue Grass Fruit Cake
Ingredients: ¾ pound butter; ¾ pound sugar; ¾ pound flour; 8 eggs; ½ cup cream; 1 teaspoon cinnamon and nutmeg mixed; ¼ cup brandy; 1 pound currants (washed, dried, and picked); 1 pound raisins (seeded and chopped)

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 ↓

Blue Grass Fruit 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

Butter and line your pan with parchment paper.

Make the batter

Beat the butter, sugar, and spices until very light.
Stir in the cream and ¼ of the flour.
Whisk the eggs until thick, then gradually add them to the mixture.
Add the remaining flour in two parts.
Fold in the currants and raisins.

Bake

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Whisked eggs trap air and bind the batter, giving the cake structure as it sets.
Butter: Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
Flour: Forms the gluten network and sets the crumb as the cake bakes.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps browning, while creaming with butter aerates the batter.
Raisins: Add chewy sweetness and moisture to the finished cake.
Currants: Add tart, concentrated fruit flavour and moisture throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs gradually. Adding eggs slowly to the creamed butter and sugar lets the emulsion stay stable. If the eggs are added too fast the batter can curdle, which hurts the rise and texture.

“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.

Cinnamon Rolls71 recipes

Brandy Peaches68 recipes

Red Currant Jelly65 recipes

Cinnamon Cake42 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Blue Grass Fruit Cake