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Dessert

Dolly Varden Cake

A layered currant and lemon cake with a sweet jelly filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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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 ↓

Dolly Varden 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.

Make the white layer

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

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  3. In another bowl, cream together 1 cup sugar and ½ cup butter.

  4. Mix in 2 cups flour, ½ cup sweet milk, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.

  5. Fold in the beaten egg whites and pour into jelly pans.

Make the yolk layer

  1. For the yolk mixture, cream together 1 cup sugar and ½ cup butter.

  2. Mix in 2 cups flour, ½ cup sweet milk, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.

  3. Stir in 1 pound currants, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

  4. Pour into jelly pans and bake until golden.

Make the jelly

  1. For the jelly, combine grated lemons, 2 cups sugar, 2 eggs, and 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thick.

Assemble

  1. Layer the baked cakes with jelly in between.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the white cake its light, open crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together once baked.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb, and gives the jelly its smooth body.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise and become airy.
Eggs
Their proteins thicken the jelly as it cooks, giving it a set, spreadable texture.
Lemons
Juice and zest add acidity and bright citrus aroma that balance the sweet jelly.

The step that matters

Cook the jelly over low heat, stirring constantly. The eggs in the jelly can scramble or curdle if the heat is too high or the mixture sits still. Gentle heat with constant stirring lets the egg proteins thicken it smoothly.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Currantthe original

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

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