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Dessert

Cheap Cake

A moist raisin cake flavored with molasses and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓

Cheap Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°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 the oven to 300°F (150°C).

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

  3. Add the molasses and milk, mixing well.

  4. Stir in the baking soda and cream of tartar.

  5. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

  6. Fold in the chopped raisins and grated nutmeg.

  7. Add flour gradually until the batter thickens.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.

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

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air and add richness and tenderness to the crumb.
Eggs
Add structure and binding, setting the cake as it bakes.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep, sweet flavor.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses and cream of tartar to lift the batter as it bakes.
Cream of tartar
Adds acidity that works with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets the batter into a cake as it bakes.

The step that matters

Adding the flour gradually. Flour gluten develops with mixing, so adding it gradually and stopping once the batter thickens keeps the cake tender rather than tough and dense.

Swap the raisin

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, milk, cream, egg, nutmeg. 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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