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Dessert

Fruit Cake

A sweet cake made with sugar, butter, eggs, molasses, spices, raisins, currants, and citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

Fruit 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 batter

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

  2. Beat the egg whites and yolks separately until fluffy.

  3. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.

  4. Add the egg yolks, molasses, spices, and cold water to the mixture.

  5. Dissolve the baking soda in a little water and add it to the mixture.

  6. Gradually mix in the flour until well combined.

  7. Fold in the egg whites gently.

  8. Stir in the raisins, currants, and citron.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whipped whites add lift and airiness, while yolks enrich the batter and add tenderness.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour, and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture to the cake.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites gently. Whipped egg whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Vigorous stirring deflates them, leading to a dense, heavy cake.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Allspicefits about as well
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits less well

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

More fruit cake recipes

White 89Black 40Christmas 29Eggless 27Molasses 23Apple 17 See all 952 →

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