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Dessert

Rich Plum Cake

A dense fruit cake made with butter, sugar, flour, dried fruit, almonds, brandy, and allspice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rich Plum Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

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. Gradually sift in the flour and salt, mixing well.

  3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth.

  4. Chop the cherries, mixed peel, and almonds, then add them along with the sultanas and allspice.

  5. Mix everything thoroughly, then gradually add the brandy. Ensure the mixture is well combined.

Bake

  1. Line a cake tin and pour in the batter.

  2. Bake for about 1.5 to 2 hours or until a skewer 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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Almond + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together512 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Raisin + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,475 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with the sugar to trap air, giving a light, tender crumb and rich flavour.
Eggs
Add structure and richness as they set, binding the heavy fruit and nuts into the cake.
All-purpose flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps create a light texture when creamed with butter.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavour and contributes moisture to the fruit-heavy batter.
Dried cherries
Add sweetness, chewy texture and moisture to the cake.

The step that matters

Bake until a skewer comes out clean. This is a long, dense, fruit-filled bake. The centre sets slowly, so underbaking leaves it gummy, while the outside can darken before the middle is done. Testing with a skewer confirms the centre is fully set.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, raisin, almond, brandy, egg. 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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