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Dessert

Fruit Cake

A dense, spiced cake made with raisins, currants, citron, figs, molasses, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓

Fruit Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

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

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

  3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and grated nutmeg.

  4. Beat the eggs into the creamed mixture, then gradually add the flour mixture.

  5. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and add it to the batter.

  6. Fold in the chopped raisins, currants, citron, and figs, ensuring they are well coated with flour.

Bake and cool

  1. Pour the batter into two greased loaf pans.

  2. Bake for 3 hours or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

  3. Let the cakes cool before frosting.

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. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Fig + allspicetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Currant + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,359 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

  5. Raisin + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake bakes.
All-purpose flour
Forms the gluten and starch framework that gives the cake its structure.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses acidity to lift and lighten the batter.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep, slightly acidic sweetness.

The step that matters

Folding in the dried fruit. Tossing the raisins, currants, citron, and figs in flour keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the batter during baking, so the fruit stays evenly distributed.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, fig, sugar, flour, butter, egg, allspice. 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.

More fruit cake recipes

White 89Black 40Christmas 29Eggless 27Molasses 23Apple 17 See all 952 →

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