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Dessert

A Plum Cake

A sweet cake made with eggs, sugar, raisins, currants, almonds, orange peel, citron, flour, butter, cinnamon, ginger, glazed with sifted sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓

A 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.

Make the batter

  1. Whisk the eggs over a gentle heat until warm, then continue whisking until thick enough to hold a drop from the whisk.

  2. Gradually mix in the sugar until thick and white.

  3. Combine the raisins, currants, almonds, orange peel, citron, flour, and creamed butter.

  4. Add the cinnamon and ginger, mixing well.

Bake and serve

  1. Butter a cake hoop and pour the batter into it.

  2. Smooth the top with a knife and glaze with sifted sugar.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

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. Raisin + flourtop 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. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Almond + orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Whisked until thick, they trap air and give the cake its light structure.
Sugar
Whisked with the eggs to add sweetness and help build a thick, pale foam.
Flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Sweet butter
Creamed into the batter to add richness, tenderness and moisture.
Raisins
Add moisture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
Almonds
Add richness and a nutty flavor, along with some texture.

The step that matters

Whisking the eggs and sugar to a thick foam. The eggs must be whisked until thick enough to hold a drop, since this trapped air is what lifts the batter. Under-whisking leaves a dense cake.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Currantthe original

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