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Dessert

A Rich Loaf, or Wedding Cake

A loaf cake made with butter, sugar, eggs, brandy, wine, spices, flour, baking powder, currants, raisins, and citron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

A Rich Loaf, or Wedding Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

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

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the egg yolks, brandy, and wine, mixing well.

  3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  4. Sift the flour and baking powder together, then fold into the butter mixture.

  5. Gently fold in the egg whites, currants, raisins, and citron.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Brandy + winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,427 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whites whipped to stiff peaks lighten the batter and help it rise; yolks add richness.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the loaf a tender, rich crumb.
Sugar
Creamed with butter for a light texture and adds sweetness and browning.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the loaf together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven, helping the loaf rise.
Currants
Add chewy fruit pieces and moisture throughout the loaf.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold the air that lifts the batter. Folding gently keeps that air in; stirring vigorously deflates the foam and produces a dense loaf.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, brandy, wine, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, brandy, wine, clove, 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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