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Dessert

Old-fashioned Loaf Cake

A sweet loaf cake made with bread dough, butter, sugar, raisins, eggs, baking soda, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and raisin 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 ↓

Old-fashioned Loaf 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.

Prepare

  1. Add the baking soda dissolved in a little water to the raised bread dough.

  2. Chop the raisins and beat the eggs until light.

Mix and fill

  1. Mix all ingredients thoroughly by hand.

  2. Turn the mixture into round cake tins, filling them half full.

  3. Let the batter rise to the top of the pans.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

  2. Frost with egg white and powdered sugar.

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. Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread dough
Provides the base structure and yeasted, bread-like crumb of the cake.
Baking soda
Releases gas in the dough, helping the batter rise in the pans.
Butter
Adds fat, which softens the crumb and gives a richer texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
Eggs
Add structure and moisture, helping the loaf hold its shape.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Let the batter rise to the top of the pans. Rising depends on gas produced in the dough. Letting it rise fully before baking gives a light, even crumb. Too little rise leaves a dense loaf, while letting it rise too long can cause it to collapse in the oven.

Swap the raisin

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

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

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