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Dessert

Brunswick Cakes

A spiced cake made with flour, butter, sugar, eggs, milk, and spices, baked and iced with powdered sugar and essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Brunswick Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a gentle oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.

  3. Add the beaten eggs and milk, mixing thoroughly.

  4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and spices.

  5. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing well.

Bake and ice

  1. Grease small cake tins with dripping and dust with flour.

  2. Pour the batter into the tins to a depth of about 1 inch.

  3. Bake for about 30 minutes or until ready.

  4. To make the icing, mix 1 lb icing sugar, ½ teaspoon essence, and 1 tablespoon water.

  5. Heat slightly and pour over the cakes when they are a little cool.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake crumb as its proteins set during baking.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cakes a tender texture and rich flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the cakes and helps create a light, aerated texture when creamed with fat.
Eggs
Add structure as they set and help bind the batter together.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cakes rise in the oven.

The step that matters

Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients. Adding the flour mixture slowly and mixing well keeps the batter smooth and evenly combined. Overmixing once flour is in develops gluten, which can make the cakes tough.

Swap the clove

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

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

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