Why it works: Currant and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,057 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Banbury Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a steady oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the pastry
Roll the butter into a sheet with a little flour.
Mix the remaining flour with the Paisley flour and make a paste with cold water.
Roll out the paste into a large, thin sheet and lay the butter sheet on top.
Fold the pastry over the butter and roll out again; repeat this process five times.
Cut the pastry into squares about five inches.
Make the filling
Chop the cleaned currants and mixed peel together, then mix with sugar and brandy.
Place a little of the mixture on each piece of pastry, fold the corners together, and moisten the edges.
Seal the pastry in an oval shape.
Turn them over.
Bake and serve
Brush the tops with cold water.
Sprinkle with castor sugar.
Place in a baking tin.
Bake in a steady oven at 350°F (175°C) until done, being careful not to let the pastry brown too much.
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.
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Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the pastry that wraps the filling.
- Butter
- Laminated between layers of pastry, it creates flakiness as it melts during baking.
- Paisley flour
- Adds a finer, more tender texture to the pastry dough.
- Currants
- Provide sweetness and chewy body to the filling.
- Moist sugar
- Sweetens the filling and adds moisture and a soft, rich texture.
The step that matters
Bake until done without over-browning. The pastry is thin and the sugar in the filling and topping caramelises quickly, so it can darken before the layers are fully cooked. Watching the colour and keeping the oven steady lets the butter layers set and crisp evenly.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, brandy):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, brandy. 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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