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Dessert

Plum Cake

A baked fruit cake with raisins, currants, citron, spices, and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Plum Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a large bowl, mix the butter, molasses, sweet milk, and beaten eggs.

  3. Dissolve the saleratus in a little hot water and add it to the mixture.

  4. Stir in the mace, allspice, cinnamon, and brandy.

  5. Gradually add flour until the batter is stiff but can be stirred easily with a spoon.

  6. Beat the batter well until light.

Add fruit and bake

  1. Fold in the raisins, currants, and citron.

  2. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick 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.

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. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. Mace + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds richness and tenderness to the crumb.
Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture, and deep sweetness.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets.
Saleratus (baking soda)
Reacts with the molasses to lighten the batter and help it rise.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Dissolving the saleratus in hot water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly with the molasses. Clumps can cause dense pockets or bitter spots in the finished cake.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, molasses, milk, egg, allspice, cinnamon, brandy):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, molasses, milk, egg, allspice, cinnamon, brandy. 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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