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Dessert

Dough Cake

A cake made from raised dough, sugar, butter, raisins, eggs, spice, and brandy, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,768 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Dough Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Mix

  1. Combine the raised dough, sugar, butter, raisins, eggs, and spice in a large bowl.

  2. Mix well until all ingredients are fully incorporated.

  3. Pour in the brandy and stir until combined.

Bake

  1. Let the mixture rise in the pans until light.

  2. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until golden brown.

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. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  3. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Raised dough
Provides the yeasted structure and airy lift that gives the cake its crumb.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, setting the crumb as the cake bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a richer mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown as it bakes.
Raisins
Add moisture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour to the batter.

The step that matters

Let the mixture rise in the pans until light. The dough needs enough time to rise before baking so the cake develops a light, open crumb. Underproofed dough bakes dense, while overproofed dough may collapse.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits about as well
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, brandy. 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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