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Dessert

Pork Cake

A sweet pork cake made with raisins, molasses, brown sugar, and spices, baked at 300°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Pork Cake

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Pork Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

Mix the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped pork, brown sugar, molasses, hot water, raisins, eggs, baking soda, and brandy.

  2. Mix well until all ingredients are fully combined.

  3. Add spices according to your taste.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a greased baking pan.

  2. Bake slowly in the preheated oven until set.

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.

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.

  1. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Fat pork
Adds richness and moisture as it softens during the slow bake.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help it set into a firm, sliceable cake.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to lighten the batter and help it rise.
Molasses
Adds dark color, deep sweetness and moisture.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Bake slowly in the preheated oven until set. A low oven temperature cooks the eggs and batter gently, so the cake sets evenly without drying out or browning too fast. Pulling it too early leaves the centre wet, since eggs only firm fully once they reach the right heat.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sugar, molasses, egg, brandy):

  1. Raisinthe original
  2. Vanillafits about as well
  3. Applefits about as well
  4. Figfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sugar, molasses, egg, brandy. 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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