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Dessert

Cider Cake

A moist cake made with butter, sugar, eggs, cider, baking soda, flour, spices, raisins, currants, and citron.

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 ↓

Cider 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).

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in the cider and add to the mixture.

  5. Gradually stir in the flour and spices until well combined.

  6. Fold in the raisins, currants, and citron.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes 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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  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

Butter
Creams with sugar to trap air, giving a tender, rich crumb and flavour.
Sugar
Creams with butter for aeration and adds sweetness and gentle browning.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, binding the batter as it sets in the oven.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic cider to release gas, helping the cake rise.
Flour
Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Cider
Provides moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda.

The step that matters

Dissolve the baking soda in the cider. Baking soda needs an acid to react and release gas. Dissolving it fully in the cider spreads it evenly through the batter, so the cake rises uniformly without pockets or bitter patches.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Allspicefits about as well
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Turmericfits less well

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