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).
Rub the butter into the flour until well combined.
Mix and shape
Mix in the currants, sugar, egg yolks, egg white, and brandy.
Roll the dough to ¼ inch thick and cut with a glass.
Finish
Optionally, beat the remaining egg white and brush over the cakes, then 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, it coats flour particles and gives the cakes a tender, rich crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure once the dough is mixed and baked.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the dough together.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown lightly on the surface.
- Currants
- Add chewy pieces of fruit sweetness throughout the dough.
- Brandy
- Adds a warm aroma that complements the dried fruit.
The step that matters
Rubbing the butter into the flour. Rub only until the mixture looks like fine crumbs. Overworking develops gluten in the flour, which makes the cakes tough instead of short and tender.
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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