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Dessert

Cheap Fruit Cake

A dense cake made with molasses, dried fruit, and spices, baked in a loaf pan.

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

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓

Cheap Fruit 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 the fruit

  1. Soak the dried fruit overnight, then drain it.

  2. Cook the drained fruit with the molasses until thick.

  3. Add butter to the hot mixture and let it cool slightly.

Make the batter

  1. Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk.

  2. Mix in the remaining ingredients.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) until done.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 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. Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses and buttermilk to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness with a slight bitterness.
Buttermilk
Adds acidity and moisture, tenderizing the crumb and activating the baking soda.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Dried fruit
Adds chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Cooking the fruit with the molasses until thick. Cooking drives off excess water and softens the fruit, so the batter does not become soggy or uneven and the cake bakes through evenly.

Swap the clove

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

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

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