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Dessert

Plum Cake

A rich cake made with flour, sugar, currants, raisins, almonds, spices, butter, cream, wine, brandy, rose water, eggs, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 ↓

Plum Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

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

  2. Mix the flour and sugar thoroughly in a large bowl.

  3. Add the currants, raisins, mace, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon peel, and almonds, then mix well.

Make the batter

  1. Melt the butter in the cream until warm, not hot.

  2. Stir in the sweet wine, brandy, rose-water, and the separated egg whites and yolks.

  3. Gradually strain this mixture into the dry ingredients, beating for a full hour.

Bake

  1. Butter a cake pan and pour in the batter.

  2. Bake in the preheated oven for at least 4 hours.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Eggs
Set during baking to bind the cake and add richness and lift.
Unsalted butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the crust brown.
Almonds
Add richness and a moist, dense texture.

The step that matters

Melting the butter in the cream. The butter and cream should only be warmed, not hot. Overheating can cause the fat to separate and the mixture to turn greasy or curdled before the eggs and flour are added, which hurts the batter's smooth emulsion and texture.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, raisin, mace, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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