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Dessert

White Fruit Cake

A fruit cake made with egg whites, sugar, baking powder, coconut, raisins, pecans, almonds, citron, pineapple, cherries, and figs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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White Fruit Cake

Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

White Fruit Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine sugar and baking powder.

  2. Add the egg whites and mix until well combined.

  3. Fold in the grated coconut, raisins, pecans, almonds, citron, pineapple, cherries, and figs.

  4. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

Bake

  1. Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Almond + figtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together519 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Coconut + pineappletop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together651 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Pineapple + figtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together100 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Coconut + almondtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,093 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites provide structure and help the cake set as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and become light.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown and keep moisture.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated fruit sweetness throughout the cake.
Pecans
Add crunch and a toasted, nutty flavor as they bake.

The step that matters

Folding in the fruit. Heavy fruit and nuts can sink to the bottom if the batter is too thin or they are added carelessly. Folding gently keeps the batter airy so the egg whites hold their rise while the fruit stays evenly distributed.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, coconut, pecans, almond, pineapple, fig):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Bananafits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, coconut, pecans, almond, pineapple, fig. 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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