Skip to main content
Dessert

Plum-cakes

A sweet cake made with flour, sugar, currants, raisins, spices, almonds, butter, cream, wine, brandy, rose‑water, eggs, yeast, and candied citrus.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Plum-cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

  1. Mix the flour and sugar thoroughly in a large bowl.

  2. Add the currants, raisins, spices, lemon peel, and beaten almonds to the dry ingredients.

  3. Melt the butter in the lukewarm cream, then mix in the sweet wine, brandy, rose-water, and beaten eggs.

  4. Gradually strain the liquid into the dry mixture, beating for a full hour.

Bake

  1. Butter a hoop or pan and pour in the batter, adding plenty of citron, lemon, and orange candy.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for at least 4 hours.

  3. If icing, pour it over the cake when nearly cold and return it to the oven overnight, keeping the door slightly open.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fine flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as its starch sets during baking.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
Butter
Adds richness and a tender crumb while carrying flavour.
Yeast
Produces gas that helps the batter rise and lighten.
Currants
Add chewy texture and concentrated fruity sweetness.
Blanched almonds
Add body, moisture and a nutty flavour to the batter.

The step that matters

Beating the batter for a full hour. Long beating works air into the batter and develops an even, light texture. Stopping early or unevenly can leave a dense cake with pockets of unmixed flour or fat.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, raisin, mace, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, raisin, mace, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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.

More plum cakes recipes

Little 4 See all 10 →

You might also like

Orange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesLemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesOrange Cream Rice PuddingOrange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes