Why it works: Brandy and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
White Cakb
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Beat the butter until creamy.
Add the sugar and mix well.
Whisk the egg yolks separately.
Whisk the egg whites separately.
Add the whisked yolks and whites to the mixture.
Stir in the candied orange peel, mace, and brandy.
Gradually add the flour.
Mix until combined.
Fold in the currants.
Bake
Transfer the batter to a prepared cake pan.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 2 hours.
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.
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Brandy + curranttop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mace + curranttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,791 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Orange + curranttop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,034 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Eggs
- Whites add lift when whisked, and yolks add richness and structure to the crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as the batter bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps hold air in the creamed butter for a lighter texture.
- Currants
- Folded in as dried fruit, adding chewy pockets of sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Folding in the whisked egg whites. Egg whites hold air only while whipped. Overmixing or deflating them when combining the batter loses the lift they give, making the cake dense.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, orange, brandy, flour, currant):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, orange, brandy, flour, currant. 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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