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Dessert

Wedding Fruit Cake

A dense, spiced cake made with eggs, sugar, molasses, butter, figs, citron, currants, raisins, lemon zest, spices, baking soda, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and raisin work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 737 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Wedding Fruit Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Mix the batter

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

  2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the brown sugar and molasses.

  3. Add the soft butter and mix until well combined.

  4. Stir in the figs, citron, currants, and raisins.

  5. Add the lemon zest, cloves, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, baking soda, and flour. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.

Bake

  1. Divide the batter into two large cake pans.

  2. Bake for 2 to 3 hours, 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. Fig + raisintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

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

  2. Currant + raisintop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Fig + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together763 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Fig + curranttop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together276 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and contributes to browning.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep flavor, and extra browning.
Soft butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Baking soda
Helps the batter rise and lightens its texture.

The step that matters

Baking until a toothpick comes out clean. A dense fruit cake this large can look set on top while the center is still wet. Testing the center with a toothpick confirms the batter has fully baked through.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Applefits better
  3. Datesfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, molasses, butter, fig, currant, raisin. 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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