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Dessert

Washington Cake

A buttery cake with sugar, eggs, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, brandy, flour, baking powder, and optional currants.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Washington 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.

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, cream the butter until smooth.

  2. Gradually add the sugar, then mix in the beaten eggs and milk.

  3. Stir in the grated nutmeg, cinnamon, and brandy.

  4. Fold in the flour and currants if using.

  5. Beat the mixture briskly for 15 minutes.

  6. Dissolve the baking powder in a little hot water and stir it into the mixture.

Bake

  1. Line a pan with buttered paper, pour in the batter, and bake at 350°F (175°C).

  2. The cake is done when a skewer inserted 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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the cake a tender crumb and moist texture.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its starch sets during baking.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and keep moisture.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
Milk
Adds moisture and liquid so the flour hydrates into a pourable batter.

The step that matters

Beating the mixture briskly. Vigorous beating for 15 minutes works air into the creamed butter and egg batter and develops the flour's gluten, which builds the cake's structure. Beating too little leaves it dense, while the baking powder added afterward still provides lift.

“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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