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Dessert

Fruit Cake, Par Excellence

A dense fruit cake made with raisins, currants, figs, citron, candied fruits, ginger, cinnamon, coconut butter, flour, eggs, icing sugar, grape juice, and non-alcoholic wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Fruit Cake, Par Excellence

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.

Prepare

  1. Chop or grind the raisins, currants, figs, citron, orange peel, cherries, ginger, and cinnamon together.

  2. Mix the coconut butter with the flour until smooth.

Make the batter

  1. Separate the eggs and beat the whites to a stiff froth.

  2. Stir the beaten whites with the yolks and icing sugar until light.

  3. Add the creamed butter and flour alternately with the beaten whites, mixing thoroughly.

  4. Incorporate the chopped fruit, grape juice, and non-alcoholic wine, mixing well.

  5. Pour the mixture into a large oiled mold.

Bake and store

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

  2. Store the cake wrapped in a tightly closed box for better flavor over time.

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. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  4. Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,437 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Orange + gingertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,833 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Seeded layer raisins
Provide sweetness and moisture through the dense, fruit-packed crumb.
Eggs
Whites trap air for lift, while yolks add richness and help bind the batter.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it sets in the oven.
Coconut butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich mouthfeel.
Icing sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the yolks become light and smooth.
Grape juice
Adds moisture and fruity sweetness to the batter.

The step that matters

Folding the beaten whites with the flour and butter. Stiff whites hold air that gives lift. Mixing too hard or too long deflates them, leaving a dense, heavy cake instead of a light one.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, fig, ginger, cinnamon, coconut, butter, flour):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Cherryfits about as well
  3. Peachfits about as well
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, fig, ginger, cinnamon, coconut, butter, flour. 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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