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Dessert

A Cabinet Pudding

A rich raisin and sponge cake pudding steamed with eggs, milk, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

A Cabinet Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mold

  1. Butter a quart mold or basin generously.

  2. Arrange the raisins or cherries in a pattern at the bottom.

Layer and make the custard

  1. Layer the sliced sponge cakes on top.

  2. Add the ratafia, macaroons, and candied citron.

  3. Whisk the egg yolks and egg whites together.

  4. Mix the eggs with the milk and strain into the cream.

  5. Sweeten the mixture with powdered sugar and pour it into the mold.

Cook and serve

  1. Steam or gently boil the pudding for 1 hour.

  2. Let it stand for a few minutes before serving.

  3. Serve with wine or brandy sauce.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Raisin + biscuittop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Raisin + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

  5. Biscuit + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,235 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard, binding the cake and biscuit layers into a firm, sliceable pudding.
Sponge cakes
Form the soft, absorbent body of the pudding that soaks up the custard.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, adding moisture and softness.
Sweet cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the custard a smoother, silkier texture.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the custard and dissolves easily into the liquid mixture.
Raisins or dried cherries
Add chewy sweetness and concentrated fruit flavour to the pudding.

The step that matters

Steam or gently boil the pudding for 1 hour. Gentle, steady heat lets the egg custard set evenly, while a hard boil can make it porous, curdled, or rubbery.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (biscuit, egg, milk, cream, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinthe original
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Strawberryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against biscuit, egg, milk, cream, sugar. 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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