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 ↓
Banbury Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Mix together currants, beef suet, candied orange and lemon rinds, salt, mixed spices, and powdered macaroons.
Make the pastry
Make a light paste with butter and flour, adding extra turns to prevent rising too much.
Assemble and bake
Roll out half of the paste into a thin square and spread the fruit mixture evenly on top.
Moisten the edges, then lay the remaining half of the paste on top, rolled thin.
Press the edges securely together and mark the surface into 2‑inch by 3‑inch sections.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 25 to 30 minutes.
Cut into cakes while still warm.
Serve hot or cold, optionally glazed.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,437 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Currants
- Provide sweetness and chewy fruit texture throughout the filling.
- Beef suet
- Adds richness and moisture to the filling as it melts during baking.
- Butter
- Gives the paste its fat content, contributing flakiness and rich flavour.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the paste that encloses the filling.
- Macaroons or ratafias
- Add almond flavour and help thicken and bind the fruit filling.
The step that matters
Pressing the edges and marking the sections. Sealing the edges well keeps the moist filling from leaking during baking, and marking sections before baking lets the cakes be cut cleanly later.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, orange, lemon, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Limefits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, orange, lemon, cinnamon, nutmeg, 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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