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Dessert

Simnel Yeast Cake

A yeast-based cake with currants, candied peel, and optional almond icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,115 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Simnel Yeast Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA steady oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a steady oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Dissolve the yeast in ½ cup lukewarm milk with 1 tablespoon of sugar to make a dough with the flour.

  2. Let the dough rise for 1 hour.

Mix and shape

  1. Mix in the currants, eggs, creamed butter, and spice.

  2. Knead well and let the dough rise for another hour in a warm place, covered.

  3. Place half the dough in a tin lined with buttered paper, add a layer of almond icing, then top with the remaining dough.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a steady oven at 300°F (150°C) for about 2 hours.

  2. Once baked and cooled, coat the cake with more almond icing if desired.

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. Nutmeg + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,115 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure of the dough once hydrated with milk and yeast.
Dried yeast
Produces gas during the rises, lightening the dough so the cake is not dense.
Eggs
Add richness and help bind the dough and currants together.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Currants
Add sweetness, chewiness and fruit flavour throughout the cake.
Milk
Provides the liquid that hydrates the flour and activates the yeast.

The step that matters

Second rise in a warm place. Yeast needs enough time and warmth to produce gas and expand the dough. A short or cold rise leaves the cake dense, while the gluten network, set by kneading, traps the gas that lightens the crumb.

“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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