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Dessert

Ribbon Cake

A sweet cake with currants, citron, and cinnamon, layered with a glossy icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Ribbon 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.

Make the batter

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

  2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the egg yolks and beat thoroughly.

  4. Mix in the vanilla and milk, then gradually add the flour.

  5. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  6. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.

  7. Stir in the baking powder until just combined.

  8. Take one third of the batter and mix in the currants, chopped citron, and cinnamon.

  9. Pour the plain batter into a greased cake pan.

  10. Layer the currant batter on top of the plain batter.

Bake

  1. Bake until golden brown.

Make the icing

  1. For icing, dissolve 3 cups sugar in 1 cup water and boil until it ropes from the spoon.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  3. Slowly pour the syrup over the beaten egg whites while beating continuously.

  4. Add lemon juice and beat for an additional 5 minutes.

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. Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

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

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

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb together as it sets.
Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air and add richness and a tender texture.
Eggs
Yolks add richness and structure, while whipped whites add lift and airiness.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake, helps tenderize the crumb, and forms the icing syrup.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise and become light.
Milk
Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, pourable batter.

The step that matters

Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter. The whites hold the air bubbles that lift the cake. Vigorous stirring deflates them, which leads to a dense, flat cake. Fold with a light, sweeping motion until just combined.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, vanilla, cinnamon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour, vanilla, cinnamon. 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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