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 ↓
Tea Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make and shape the dough
Rub the butter into the flour until well combined.
Mix in the currants, sugar, egg yolks, egg white, and brandy.
Roll the dough to ¼ inch thick and cut with a glass.
Finish and bake
Optionally, beat the remaining egg white and brush over the cakes.
Dust with sugar if desired.
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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Butter + flourtop 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour to give the dough a tender, crumbly texture.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough once it is combined with fat and eggs.
- Currants
- Add fruitiness and chewy pieces throughout the cakes.
- Fine sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown lightly in the oven.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the dough.
- Egg white
- Adds structure and helps bind the dough; the beaten portion gives a glossy finish.
The step that matters
Rolling the dough to an even thickness. Dough rolled unevenly bakes unevenly, so thin spots over-brown or dry out while thick spots stay doughy. Keeping the dough at a consistent ¼ inch helps the cakes bake at the same rate.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, egg, brandy):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, egg, 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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