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Dessert

Prize Black Cake

A dense, spiced fruit cake made with molasses, currants, raisins, citron, and spices, baked slowly with a water bath.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Prize Black Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

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

  2. Add spices to half of the brown sugar and cream it with the butter until well combined.

  3. Stir the remaining brown sugar into the well-beaten egg yolks.

  4. Dredge the currants and halved raisins in flour.

  5. Stir the baking powder and wine into the molasses.

  6. Mix all ingredients together except for the citron.

  7. Beat in the egg whites until well combined.

Bake

  1. Place one-fourth of the mixture in a large tube pan lined with greased paper.

  2. Sprinkle a layer of citron on top and repeat until all batter and citron are used.

  3. Bake for about 4 hours, placing a large pan of boiling water under the cake to keep it moist and prevent burning.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sherry + curranttop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together393 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Molasses + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sherry + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,237 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs
Egg yolks and whites bind the batter and give the cake its structure as it sets.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as the batter sets in the oven.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and stays light.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep sweetness and a dark color to the cake.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay tender.

The step that matters

Keeping the cake moist during baking. A long bake at 350°F can dry out and scorch a dense fruit cake. The pan of boiling water in the oven adds steam, which keeps the surface moist and helps prevent burning.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, sherry, molasses, egg, 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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