Name: Village Fruit Cake
Ingredients: 1 pound butter; 1 pound dark brown sugar; 2 nutmegs, grated; 2 teaspoons ground cloves; 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 10 eggs; 2 pounds figs, chopped fine; 2 pounds chopped raisins; 2 pounds currants; 2 pounds shelled, blanched, and chopped almonds; 1 pint black molasses; 1 teaspoon baking soda; ½ pound citron, chopped; 2 cups rose water; 1 pound flour

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓

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.

Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Cinnamon + figtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together614 recipes

Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Creams with the sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs: Add structure and moisture, binding the rich fruit and batter together as they set.
Flour: Provides the main structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
Black molasses: Adds moisture, dark colour and deep sweetness, and reacts with the baking soda to help it rise.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lightens the batter.
Dark brown sugar: Adds sweetness, moisture and a caramel note that helps the crumb stay soft.

The step that matters

Bake for several hours until a toothpick comes out clean. A dense fruit cake can look set on top while the centre is still wet. Testing deep in the centre with a toothpick confirms the batter has baked through, since the long, low bake is what sets the structure.

Swap the fig

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, egg, raisin):

Vanillafits about as well
Figthe original
Lemonfits less well
Applefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, egg, 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.

Village Fruit Cake