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Dessert

Federal Cake

A sweet loaf cake with raisins, citron, wine, and brandy.

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

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Federal 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. 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, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the milk and mix well.

  3. Gradually add the flour and baking powder, mixing until combined.

  4. Fold in the beaten eggs gently.

  5. Divide the batter into two portions.

  6. In one portion, add the raisins and citron, mixing well.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into greased loaf pans.

  2. Bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted 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.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,427 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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
Beaten eggs folded in add structure and lift to the batter as they set in the oven.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender crumb.
Flour
Forms the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Sugar
Creamed with butter, it adds sweetness and helps give the batter a light texture.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
Raisins
Add chewy pockets of sweetness and moisture to one portion of the batter.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten eggs. Folding gently keeps the air whipped into the eggs and creamed butter and sugar. Overmixing knocks out that air and the cake can turn out dense rather than light.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, wine, brandy):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, wine, brandy. 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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