Skip to main content
Dessert

Jelly Fruit Cake

A layered cake made with fruit, molasses, spices, and jelly, topped with white frosting.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Jelly Fruit Cake

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract, mixing well.

  4. In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, then gradually add to the wet mixture.

  5. Divide the batter in half.

  6. Add molasses, brandy, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, raisins, and citron to one half.

  7. Pour the light batter into jelly tins to form two layers.

  8. Pour the fruit batter into jelly tins for two layers.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.

  2. Let the cakes cool slightly.

  3. Spread jelly between the layers.

  4. Top with a light layer of jelly.

  5. Frost the entire cake with white frosting.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together806 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a light, tender crumb.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, binding the batter as it sets in the oven.
All-purpose flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the layers rise in the oven.
Raisins
Add moisture and concentrated sweetness to the fruit batter layer.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep sweetness and color to the fruit batter layer.

The step that matters

Baking the two batters in separate tins. The light and fruit batters bake at different rates and darken differently, so check each layer with a toothpick and do not overbake the light layers, which dry out quickly.

Swap the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, milk, egg, molasses, brandy):

  1. Raisinfits about as well
  2. Vanillathe original
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Apricotfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, milk, egg, molasses, brandy. 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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesMolasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesCinnamon RollsCinnamon Rolls71 recipes