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Yorkshire Tea Cake

Dried fruits are soaked in tea to plump them up and add moisture to this simple, tasty cake.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,390 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 6-8
Cook2 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Steep the black tea in a pan of boiling water for 5 minutes, then strain and let it cool slightly.

  2. Put the sultanas, raisins and currants in a bowl, add the warm tea, brandy, rosewater and honey, stir, cover and leave to soak for at least 1 hour or overnight.

  3. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Grease and line a 7-inch (18 cm) round cake tin.

  4. Whisk the bread flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and soft brown sugar together in a large bowl.

  5. Melt the butter, then beat it with the egg and 5 tablespoons of orange marmalade until smooth.

  6. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients, then fold in the soaked fruit and any remaining liquid. Spoon into the tin and smooth the top.

  7. Bake for about 90 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean and the egg is set. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack.

  8. Warm the 2 tablespoons of marmalade with a splash of water, brush over the warm cake, and top with thin marzipan (optional) and gold leaf (optional) if using.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Raisin + cinnamontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Brandy + curranttop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Raisin + curranttop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together6,180 recipes

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

  4. Honey + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,446 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  5. Raisin + flourtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,071 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (black tea, brandy, honey, raisin, bread, flour, cinnamon):

  1. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  2. Figbetter flavor fit
  3. Applebetter flavor fit
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against black tea, brandy, honey, raisin, bread, flour, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).