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Dessert

Fruit Cake, Par Excellence

A rich fruit cake made with raisins, currants, figs, citron, candied peel, cherries, ginger, cinnamon, coconut butter, flour, eggs, powdered sugar, and grape juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Fruit Cake, Par Excellence

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 the fruit

  1. Chop and mix the raisins, currants, figs, citron, orange peel, cherries, ginger, and cinnamon thoroughly.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the coconut butter with the flour.

  2. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.

  3. Beat the yolks with the powdered sugar until light.

  4. Add the beaten egg whites and creamed mixture alternately to the yolks, mixing well.

  5. Incorporate the fruit mixture and grape juice, mixing thoroughly.

Bake and store

  1. Pour into a large oiled pan and bake for 2 hours at 350°F (175°C).

  2. Store the cake wrapped in a close box; it improves with age.

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. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  4. Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Orange + gingertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,833 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites trapped as foam and yolks enriched the batter, giving structure and lift.
Coconut butter
Fat that is creamed with flour, adding richness and a tender crumb.
Flour
Provides the starch and structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the yolks and dissolves easily, adding sweetness and a smooth texture.
Seedless raisins or cleaned currants
Dried fruit that adds moisture and chewy sweetness throughout the cake.
Grape juice
Adds liquid and fruit sweetness, moistening the batter before baking.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks and gently combined; overmixing deflates the foam, leading to a dense cake.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, fig, ginger, cinnamon, coconut, butter, flour):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Cherryfits about as well
  3. Peachfits about as well
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, fig, ginger, cinnamon, coconut, butter, flour. 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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