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Dessert

Hermit Cakes

A buttery cake with currants, citron, and spices baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓

Hermit Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

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

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  3. Stir in the baking soda mixture, grated nutmeg, and spices.

  4. Fold in the currants and chopped citron.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll the dough thin and cut into cookie shapes.

  2. Place on a baking sheet and bake until lightly golden.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 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. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Nutmeg + allspicetop 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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cakes a tender, rich texture.
White sugar
Creams with butter for a light structure and adds sweetness and browning.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add structure and richness as they are beaten in.
Baking soda
Reacts with the dough to help it rise and promotes browning in the oven.
Currants
Add chewy pockets of sweetness and fruitiness throughout the cakes.
Citron
Adds candied, slightly tart citrus flavour and chewy texture.

The step that matters

Rolling the dough thin. Thin dough bakes quickly and evenly, so the cookies turn lightly golden and crisp at the edges. Thick dough can stay doughy in the centre while the outside over-browns.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove):

  1. Cardamomfits about as well
  2. Allspicethe original
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove. 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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