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Dessert

Brunswick Cakes

A spiced cake baked in small tins, flavored with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and finished with a simple icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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.

Prepare

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

  2. Grease small cake tins with dripping and dust them with flour.

Make the batter

  1. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.

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

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

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

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

Bake and ice

  1. Bake for about 30 minutes or until ready.

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

  3. Heat the icing slightly and pour it over the cakes when they are slightly 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 structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender texture when beaten with sugar.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and moisture to the crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven, helping the cakes rise and become light.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, when creamed with butter, helps trap air for a lighter crumb.

The step that matters

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in portions and mixing gently 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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