Why it works: Brandy and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,427 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
Raised Dough 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Mix and bake
In a large bowl, combine the raised dough, sugar, and butter until smooth.
Add the eggs, brandy, wine, mixed fruit, and spices, mixing well.
Pour the mixture into a common-sized bread pan.
Bake for 2 hours or until golden brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Raised dough
- Provides the yeasted bread base that gives the cake its airy, chewy structure.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
- Mixed fruit
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and chewy texture throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Bake for 2 hours or until golden brown. A dense, fruit-filled batter can look browned on the outside while the center is still wet. Checking doneness in the middle, not only by colour, helps prevent a gummy interior.
“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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