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Dessert

Federal Cakes

A sweet cake made with flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon, eggs, wine or brandy, rose water, baking soda, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Federal Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Sift the flour into a deep pan and cut into the butter.

  2. Rub the butter into the flour with your hands.

  3. Gradually add the sugar, cinnamon, beaten egg, wine or brandy, and rose water.

  4. Beat the eggs until light and add them to the mixture.

  5. Dissolve the baking soda in a little lukewarm water and mix it in.

  6. Add cold water as needed to form a stiff dough.

Shape and bake

  1. Knead the dough slightly and roll it out to ½ inch thick.

  2. Cut out small cakes using a tin cutter or tumbler, dipping the cutter in flour to prevent sticking.

  3. Place the cakes on buttered shallow pans or flat sheets, ensuring they do not touch.

  4. Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) until light brown.

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. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Cinnamon + winetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,170 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the dough once mixed with liquids.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and tenderness by coating the flour and shortening the dough.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add structure and richness to the cakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the dough to help the cakes rise and lighten.
Powdered white sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Baking until light brown. Baking in a brisk oven sets the cakes quickly and browns them through sugar caramelization. Pulling them too early leaves them pale and doughy, while overbaking makes them dry and hard.

“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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