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Baking

White Fruit Cake

A baked cake made with butter, sugar, sweet milk, flour, egg whites, baking powder, raisins, figs, dates, citron, currants, and grated coconut.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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White Fruit Cake

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

White Fruit Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°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.

Make the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the sweet milk and mix well.

  4. Gradually add the flour and baking powder, mixing until combined.

  5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then fold them into the batter.

  6. Stir in the raisins, figs, dates, citron, currants, and grated coconut.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake slowly for about 1.5 to 2 hours, 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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Fig + datestop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together318 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

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

  4. Raisin + figtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together737 recipes

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

  5. Milk + figtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,026 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creams with the sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps the creamed butter hold air for a light texture.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake and dried fruit together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes lighter.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they add lift and airy structure to the batter.
Raisins
Add moisture and chewy sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when whipped to stiff peaks and folded gently. Stirring them in vigorously knocks out the air, so the cake bakes up dense instead of light.

Swap the dates

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Peachfits about as well
  3. Apricotfits about as well
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, raisin, 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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