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Dessert

Apple Jelly Cake

A spiced cake layered with apple jelly filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 ↓

Apple Jelly 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. Stir in the sweet milk and mix until combined.

  5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, then gradually add to the wet mixture.

  6. Add molasses, raisins, citron, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and flour to one bowl and mix well.

Bake

  1. Pour the plain batter into jelly tins, then layer the spiced batter on top.

  2. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Make the filling and assemble

  1. Combine sugar, grated apples, lemon juice, and lemon rind in a saucepan; boil, then stir in the egg just before removing from heat.

  2. Once the cakes are cool, spread jelly over each layer before stacking.

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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

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

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 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

All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure that sets the cake crumb as it bakes.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter and the jelly filling.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise and lighten.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender texture and golden browning.
Apples
Provide moisture, tartness, and natural pectin that helps thicken the jelly filling.

The step that matters

Stirring the egg into the jelly filling. The egg must go into the hot apple mixture just before it comes off the heat. Stirred in too early or left to sit at a hard boil, the egg can scramble, leaving lumps instead of a smooth, thick jelly.

“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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