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Baking

Scotch Seed Cake

A cake made with egg yolks, egg whites, powdered sugar, butter, spices, almonds, candied orange peel, flour, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Scotch Seed Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Beat the yolks of 6 eggs and the whites of 4 eggs to a high froth.

  3. Add 4 oz. of powdered loaf sugar and 4 oz. of creamed butter.

  4. Mix in 1 teaspoon of mixed spice and 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds.

  5. Incorporate 4 oz. of sweet almonds beaten to a paste with a little laurel water.

  6. Fold in ½ lb. of candied orange peel and 20 oz. of flour.

  7. Add enough brandy to achieve the proper consistency.

  8. Mix well and pour into a baking pan.

Bake

  1. Bake for 1 hour.

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. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Caraway + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,435 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Caraway + almondtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together84 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whisked to a froth, they trap air that lifts the cake, and the yolks add richness.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it adds tenderness and a rich, moist crumb.
Powdered loaf sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps it brown as it bakes.
Sweet almonds
Ground to a paste, they add moisture, body and a nutty flavour.
Candied orange peel
Adds bright, sweet-bitter citrus flavour and chewy pockets throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Folding in the flour. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which toughens the cake. Fold gently and only until the flour disappears so the cake stays tender.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, caraway, almond, laurel, flour):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, caraway, almond, laurel, flour. 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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