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Christmas Cake

"This cake is a rich, dark, moist fruit cake, very flavorful at Christmas. Try icing with almond paste for a more festive touch. This recipe is started in October or November so as to let it mellow before the holidays. I remember very well my mother storing her fruit cake in an old butter churn that belonged to my grandmother and great grandmother. I wish that I had that old crock."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,711 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

The recipe

1 - 8 inch square fruit cake
Prep30 min
Cook3 hr 30 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Combine the candied cherries, candied citrus peel, raisins, currants, dates and slivered almonds in a large bowl. Pour in the brandy, stir, cover and let stand at least 30 minutes. Toss with the 1/2 cup all-purpose flour.

  2. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Grease an 8 inch square pan and line it with parchment paper.

  3. Whisk the 2 cups all-purpose flour, baking soda, ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl.

  4. Beat the butter and packed brown sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

  5. Stir in the molasses and apple juice. Gradually mix in the flour mixture until just combined.

  6. Fold the soaked fruit and nut mixture into the batter until evenly distributed.

  7. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for about 3 hours, until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake is set. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together7,711 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Currant + brandytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Raisin + almondtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Currant + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,359 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

  5. Almond + flourtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together8,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, currant, almond, brandy, flour, clove, allspice):

  1. Figbetter flavor fit
  2. Orangebetter flavor fit
  3. Plumbetter flavor fit
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, currant, almond, brandy, flour, clove, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).