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Dessert

Federal Cake

A moist raisin cake flavored with brandy, nutmeg, and cloves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Federal Cake

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Federal Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batter

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

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

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

  4. Mix in the sour cream, brandy, grated nutmeg, and cloves.

  5. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda.

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

  7. Fold in the raisins.

Bake and cool

  1. Pour the batter into an ungreased pan with 2-inch deep projections on the edges.

  2. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

  3. Do not open the oven for the first 15 minutes.

  4. Once baked, turn the pan upside down to cool, then loosen the sides with a knife to remove the cake.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. 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

Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb and rich flavor.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, binding the batter as they set in the oven.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and tang, and its acidity activates the baking soda.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and sweetness dispersed through the cake.

The step that matters

Do not open the oven for the first 15 minutes. Opening the oven early drops the temperature and can cause the batter's rising structure to collapse before it sets, leaving a dense or sunken cake.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, cream, egg, brandy, raisin):

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Capersfits less well
  4. Allspicefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, cream, egg, brandy, raisin. 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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