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Dessert

Imperial Cake

A rich cake made with butter, sugar, flour, raisins, almonds, eggs, nutmeg, citron, and whisky or brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Imperial 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.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  2. Beat the egg yolks and mix them with the creamed butter and sugar.

  3. Add the beaten egg whites and mix well.

  4. Gradually fold in the flour.

  5. Dredge the raisins and almonds with flour and add them to the mixture.

  6. Stir in the grated nutmeg and citron.

  7. Add the whisky or brandy and mix until combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) for four hours.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Almond + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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 and lift as the cake sets.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb when creamed with sugar.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the heavy fruit and nuts in place.
Light brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and a caramel note to the crumb.
Raisins
Add chewy sweetness and moisture throughout the cake.
Blanched almonds
Add crunch and a nutty flavor that balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Folding in the flour. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which toughens the crumb. Fold gently and only until no dry flour streaks remain, so the cake stays tender despite its heavy load of fruit and nuts.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, raisin, egg, almond, whisky):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Gingerfits less well
  4. Capersfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, raisin, egg, almond, whisky. 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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