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Dessert

Fruit Cake

A dense cake made with raisins, currants, citron, molasses, and spices, baked at 300°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓

Fruit Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; 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 until light and fluffy.

  3. Beat the egg whites and yolks separately until well combined.

  4. Gradually add the egg yolks to the butter and sugar mixture.

  5. Sift together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, mace, cloves, and cinnamon.

  6. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture alternately with the molasses and brandy.

  7. Gently fold in the egg whites until just combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 2 to 3 hours, 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 + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

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

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide structure and richness, with the separated whites lightening the batter when folded in.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air, adding tenderness and richness to the crumb.
Flour
Forms the structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises.
Molasses
Adds moisture, sweetness and deep flavour, and helps the cake brown.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air from beating, which gives lift. Folding gently and only until combined keeps that air in, so the cake stays light rather than dense.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, currant, sugar, flour, butter, egg, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, currant, sugar, flour, butter, 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.

More fruit cake recipes

White 89Black 40Christmas 29Eggless 27Molasses 23Apple 17 See all 952 →

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