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Dessert

Simnel Cake

Simnel cake is a layered cake with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, allspice, currants, citron, lemon, brandy, almonds, and fruit.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Simnel Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the mixtures

  1. Cream 6 oz of butter with 6 oz of sugar.

  2. Beat the yolks of 3 eggs with a little milk, then add to the butter and sugar mixture.

  3. Alternately add the flour and remaining eggs to the mixture.

  4. Stir in the allspice, currants, chopped citron, lemon zest, brandy, and whipped egg whites.

  5. In a separate bowl, melt 2 oz of butter, then mix in the almonds, remaining sugar, lemon juice, and 2 eggs.

Prepare the tin

  1. Grease and line a round cake tin.

Layer and bake

  1. Layer half of the cake mixture.

  2. Layer half of the almond mixture.

  3. Top with the remaining cake mixture.

  4. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1.5 hours.

  5. Spread the remaining almond mixture on top.

  6. Bake for an additional 35 minutes.

Decorate

  1. Decorate the center with fruits or sugared almonds.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Allspice + lemontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Currant + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,359 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

  4. Allspice + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together512 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness, and traps air when creamed with sugar.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure, richness and lift.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps trap air when creamed with butter.
Almonds
Add moisture, richness and a dense, nutty layer.
Currants
Add sweetness and chewy fruit pockets throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Stir in the whipped egg whites. Whipped egg whites hold air that lifts the batter. Stirring them in too vigorously knocks out that air, leaving a denser cake.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, allspice, lemon, flour, sugar, almond. 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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