Skip to main content
Dessert

Nut and Fruit Filling

A mixture of chopped nuts and candied fruits used as a cake filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Nut and Fruit Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the nuts moderately.

  2. Combine the chopped nuts with the candied cherries, raisins, figs, and both candied peels, and mix well.

Assemble

  1. Spread the mixture between layers of cake.

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Walnut + figtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together373 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Fig + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together407 recipes

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

  4. Raisin + figtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

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

  5. Walnut + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,149 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Walnuts, hickory nuts, or pecans
Adds crunch and a toasty, rich flavor that contrasts with the soft, chewy fruit.
Candied cherries
Provide concentrated sweetness and color, plus a chewy texture.
Raisins
Add moisture and chewy sweetness as they soften within the filling.
Figs
Contribute chewy texture and natural sweetness to the filling.
Candied orange peel
Adds bright, aromatic citrus flavor and a slightly chewy bite.
Candied lemon peel
Adds sharp citrus aroma that balances the sweetness of the other fruit.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, fig, orange, lemon):

  1. Cranberryfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, fig, orange, lemon. 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.

You might also like

Orange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesLemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesOrange Cream Rice PuddingOrange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes