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Dessert

Molasses Fruit Cake

A moist fruit cake made with molasses, raisins, currants, figs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Molasses 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.

Make the batter

  1. Cream together the butter and brown sugar.

  2. Add the beaten eggs and mix well.

  3. Incorporate the milk and all the spices.

  4. Gradually add the flour and baking soda, mixing until combined.

  5. Flour the raisins, currants, and chopped figs, then fold them into the batter.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a prepared pan.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 2 to 3 hours, or use a steam cooker.

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. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  5. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help set the crumb as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown.
Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the cake.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to help the cake rise.

The step that matters

Folding in the dried fruit. Tossing the raisins, currants, and figs in flour helps keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter. Fold gently so the batter stays light and the fruit is evenly spread.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, raisin, egg, milk, butter, ginger, clove):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, raisin, egg, milk, butter, ginger, clove. 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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