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Dessert

Hermit Cake

A spiced walnut and raisin cake baked with baking soda and boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Hermit 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 the batter

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

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

  3. Add the eggs and milk, mixing well.

  4. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and allspice.

  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.

  6. Fold in the walnuts and raisins.

  7. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and add to the batter.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.

  2. Bake for 45-50 minutes 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. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  4. Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,147 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Walnut + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together553 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the crumb.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust while creaming aerates the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lifts the batter so the cake rises.
Baking soda
Reacts with the batter's acidity to help it rise and brown.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda dissolved in boiling water. Baking soda only leavens once it reacts with acid in the batter, so it must be fully dissolved and mixed in evenly. Lumps can leave bitter, yellow pockets and uneven rise, so stir until smooth before baking.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, flour, milk, egg, cinnamon, allspice):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Pistachiofits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, flour, milk, egg, 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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