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Dessert

Rich Cake

A dense cake made with butter, sugar, flour, currants, almonds, spices, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Rich Cake

Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Rich Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

  1. Wash and dry the currants.

  2. Dry and sift the flour.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter in a bowl.

  2. Add the sugar and mix well.

  3. Blend in the ground almonds.

  4. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add them to the mixture.

  5. Stir in the brandy and spices.

  6. Gradually add the flour while mixing.

  7. Fold in the currants and peel.

Bake

  1. Transfer the mixture to a buttered tin.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 4 hours.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mace + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
Creamed with sugar to trap air, adding tenderness and richness to the crumb.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake, helps brown the crust and keeps the crumb moist.
Flour
Provides the structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help set its structure as it cooks.
Almonds
Add body, richness and a fine texture to the crumb.
Currants
Add chewy pockets of fruit sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Long bake at 400°F. A dense batter rich in sugar and fruit can darken on the outside well before the centre sets. Check the cake through the long bake so the crust does not burn while the middle is still raw.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, currant, almond, egg, cinnamon. 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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