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Dessert

Vermont Election Cake

A sweet yeast cake with raisins, butter, meat fat, and spices, baked into four loaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓

Vermont Election Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Combine 3 cups milk, 2 cups sugar, and the yeast cake.

  2. Let the mixture stand overnight.

Mix and bake

  1. In the morning, add 2 cups sugar, 2 cups shortening (1 cup butter and 1 cup meat fat), 2 cups raisins, 2 eggs, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and 1 nutmeg.

  2. Let the mixture rise until it bubbles.

  3. Bake until done.

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. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

  5. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Yeast cake
Produces gas that leavens the batter so it rises and becomes light.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the cake hold together as it bakes.
Butter and meat fat
Provide fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
Raisins
Add pockets of sweetness and a chewy texture throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Let the mixture rise until it bubbles. The yeast needs enough time to produce gas that leavens the batter. Stopping early leaves the cake dense, while letting it rise too long can weaken the structure so it collapses or bakes unevenly.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, butter, meat, egg, nutmeg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, butter, meat, egg, 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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