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Dessert

Jam Cake

A layered cake made with raspberry jam, butter, sugar, eggs, flour, buttermilk, spices, and a powdered sugar filling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 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 ↓

Jam Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; 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, beat together the yellow sugar and butter until well combined.

  3. Add the red raspberry jam and mix well.

  4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and then add them to the mixture.

  5. In another bowl, combine the sifted flour, buttermilk, and baking soda, then add to the mixture.

  6. Stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

  7. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites until fully incorporated.

Bake and fill

  1. Divide the batter into three layers and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  2. For the filling, beat the egg yolks and powdered sugar together until stiff, then flavor with vanilla.

  3. Once the cake is cool, spread the filling between the layers.

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. Red raspberry + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together28 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Add structure, richness and lift when the whites are folded in.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the layers together as they bake.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
Baking soda
Reacts with the buttermilk's acidity to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda.
Red raspberry jam
Adds sweetness, moisture and fruit flavour throughout the batter.

The step that matters

Gently folding in the egg whites. Whipped egg whites hold air bubbles that give the cake lift. Stirring or beating them into the batter knocks that air out, leaving a denser cake. Fold slowly with a spatula until just combined.

Swap the red raspberry

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Red raspberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, flour, buttermilk, 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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