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Dessert

Wsddino Cake

A rich cake made with candied fruit, dried fruit, almonds, and butter, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Wsddino 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.

Prepare

  1. Wash, pick, and dry the currants.

  2. Cut the cherries into moderate-sized pieces and slice the candied peel into thin shreds.

  3. Blanch and pound the almonds or cut them into very small pieces.

  4. Crush the flavored sugar to powder.

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy using a wooden spoon or your hand.

  2. Gradually add the sugar, flour, and eggs, mixing thoroughly.

  3. Work in the remaining ingredients a little at a time, beating the mixture well after each addition for about 45 minutes.

Bake

  1. Line a cake hoop with double folds of buttered paper.

  2. Pour in the mixture.

  3. Place the hoop on a metal baking sheet with 12 folds of paper underneath and 4 or 5 on top to prevent burning.

  4. Bake in a moderately heated oven 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.

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. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the dense fruit and nuts together as the cake sets.
Unsalted butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb while carrying flavor through the batter.
Large eggs
Bind the batter and help it set firm during baking, adding structure and moisture.
Dried currants
Add chewy sweetness and concentrated fruit flavor throughout the cake.
Almonds
Add nutty flavor and a pleasant texture that contrasts with the soft crumb.

The step that matters

Beating the batter thoroughly. Beating after each addition for a long period builds an even, stable emulsion of butter, sugar, and eggs, which gives the cake an even crumb and keeps the heavy fruit from sinking.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, lemon, orange, almond, egg, cinnamon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, lemon, orange, almond, egg, 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.

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