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Dessert

Fruit Cake

A moist, spiced cake with raisins, currants, citron, and molasses, baked for two hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓

Fruit Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot 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 grated nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, mace, molasses, and sour milk. Mix well.

  3. Incorporate the beaten egg yolks and brandy. Stir thoroughly.

  4. Gradually add the sifted flour, alternating with the beaten egg whites.

  5. Dissolve the baking soda and mix it in thoroughly.

  6. Combine the fruit with 2 heaping tablespoons of flour and fold it into the batter.

Bake and store

  1. Butter two baking tins and line them with buttered paper.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 2 hours.

  3. Let the cake cool in the pans.

  4. Store in a tight container or keep in the pans covered tightly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites and yolks add structure and lift to the batter as it bakes.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deep caramel flavor to the cake.
Sifted flour
Forms the main structure that holds the cake and fruit together.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to help the cake rise.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a rich, slightly bitter sweetness.

The step that matters

Dissolve the baking soda and mix it in thoroughly. Baking soda must be evenly distributed so it reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses throughout the batter. Uneven mixing leaves pockets that over-rise or stay dense, giving an uneven crumb.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, raisin, molasses, milk, nutmeg. 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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