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Dessert

Neapolitan Cake

A layered cake with a dark raisin and currant batter topped with a lemon‑flavored frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 25 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Neapolitan Cake

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the dark batter

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

  2. In a large bowl, cream together 1 cup butter and 2 cups brown sugar.

  3. Add 1 cup molasses and 1 cup strong coffee, mixing well.

  4. In another bowl, combine 4 ½ cups sifted flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 2 teaspoons cloves, 1 teaspoon mace, 1 pound raisins, 1 pound currants, and ¼ pound citron.

  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until combined.

Make the white batter

  1. In a separate bowl, cream together 1 cup butter and 4 cups white sugar for the white layer.

  2. Add 2 cups sweet milk, 2 cups corn starch, and 4 ½ cups sifted flour, mixing well.

  3. In another bowl, beat 8 egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold into the white batter.

Bake, cool and frost

  1. Pour both batters into round jelly pans with straight edges, ensuring they are 1 ½ inches thick.

  2. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes.

  3. Let the cakes cool completely.

  4. For the frosting, beat 1 egg white, then add the grated rind and juice of 2 lemons, and enough powdered sugar to make a thick frosting.

  5. Spread the frosting on each black loaf, then place a white loaf on top and frost the top as desired.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Coffee + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together895 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the dense, fruit-studded crumb together.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses and coffee to lift the dark batter as it bakes.
Molasses
Adds moisture, sweetness and deep colour to the dark layer.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that lightens the white layer.
Corn starch
Softens the flour's gluten, giving the white layer a tender, fine crumb.

The step that matters

Folding the beaten egg whites into the white batter. Stiff egg white foam holds the air that lightens the white layer. Stirring vigorously or for too long knocks out that air, leaving a denser cake, so fold gently until just combined.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

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