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Dessert

Harrison Cake

A spiced cake made with molasses, butter, eggs, flour and stoned raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Harrison 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 the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the well-beaten eggs and molasses, mixing well.

  4. In a separate bowl, combine the saleratus, cloves, cinnamon, allspice, and grated nutmeg with the flour.

  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until combined.

  6. Fold in the stoned raisins.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

  2. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cake bakes and sets.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and add tenderness and richness.
Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Saleratus (baking soda)
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to leaven the cake and help it rise.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness with a mild acidity.
Stoned raisins
Add pockets of moisture and chewy sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in portions and stirring only until combined keeps the batter smooth and limits gluten development, so the cake stays tender instead of tough.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, molasses, clove, cinnamon, allspice):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, molasses, clove, cinnamon, allspice. 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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