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Dessert

A Good Fruit Cake Without Eggs

A moist, spiced fruit cake made with milk, sugar, molasses, raisins, and spices, baked without eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

A Good Fruit Cake Without Eggs

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

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

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix the thick milk, brown sugar, molasses, and butter until well combined.

  2. Stir in the chopped raisins, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and cloves.

  3. Gradually add the flour, mixing until smooth.

Bake

  1. Divide the batter between two greased cake tins.

  2. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Thick milk
Provides liquid that hydrates the flour and dissolves the sugar for a moist batter.
Flour
Forms the cake's structure as its proteins and starches set during baking.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture, and deeper caramel flavor, and helps browning.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a rich, slightly bitter sweetness.
Baking soda
Reacts with acidic components to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda with the other dry spices. Baking soda needs an acidic partner to release gas and lift the batter. If it is unevenly distributed, pockets can taste soapy or the cake can rise unevenly. Mixing it thoroughly into the batter before baking helps ensure an even rise.

Swap the raisin

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinthe original
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Applefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, molasses, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, 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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