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Dessert

Jelly Fruit Cake

A layered cake with a light and dark batter, spiced with molasses, brandy, and spices, topped with jelly and white frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Jelly Fruit 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 batters

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

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

  3. Add the sweet milk, flour, baking powder, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

  4. Divide the batter in half.

  5. To one half, add molasses, brandy, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, raisins, and citron. Mix well.

Bake and assemble

  1. Pour the light batter into two cake pans and the dark batter into two other pans.

  2. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  3. Let the cakes cool slightly.

  4. Spread jelly between the layers.

  5. Top with the light layer.

  6. Cover the entire cake with white frosting.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together806 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb.
Eggs
Add structure and richness as they set during baking.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise.
Molasses
Adds dark colour, moisture and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness to the dark batter.
Raisins
Add chewy moisture and sweetness to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Baking the two batters. Light and dark batters bake at the same time, so the cakes must be checked closely. Overbaking dries the crumb, while underbaking leaves the centre gummy and unset. A toothpick inserted into the centre should come out clean.

Swap the vanilla

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

  1. Raisinfits about as well
  2. Vanillathe original
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Apricotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, flour, egg, molasses, 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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