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Dessert

Sour Cream Fruit Cake

A moist fruit cake made with sour cream, molasses, and raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Sour Cream Fruit Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Dissolve the baking soda in warm water in a mixing bowl.

  2. Add the sour cream, molasses, and brown sugar, then stir until the sugar is dissolved.

  3. Sift the flour with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, then add to the mixture.

  4. Beat until smooth.

  5. Stir in the raisins.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake at 300°F (150°C) for 1 hour.

  2. Optionally, substitute half of the raisins with currants or add citron.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

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

  5. Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream and molasses to release gas, helping the cake rise.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and tang, and its acidity activates the baking soda.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color and rich sweetness with a deep flavor.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the batter and adds moisture and a caramel-like flavor.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Dissolve the baking soda in the warm water before adding the other ingredients. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly with the acidic sour cream and molasses. Undissolved pockets can leave bitter spots and uneven rising.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cinnamon, cream, nutmeg, molasses, sugar, raisin):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cinnamon, cream, nutmeg, molasses, sugar, raisin. 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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