Skip to main content
Dessert

Black Cake

A dense fruit cake made with raisins, currants, citron, spices, and brandy, baked with eggs, butter, sugar, flour, and baking powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Black Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA steady oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

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

  2. Flavor the raisins and currants with brandy.

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and sugar together.

  2. Add the egg yolks to the butter and sugar mixture.

  3. Stir in the chopped citron, allspice, and cloves.

  4. Mix in the sifted flour and baking powder.

  5. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a prepared cake pan and bake until done.

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 + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

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

  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
Yolks add richness and whites, folded in last, lighten the batter and help it rise.
Butter
Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Dark brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deep molasses flavor.
Raisins
Soaked in brandy, they add moisture, sweetness, and chewy texture.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites gently. Beaten whites hold air that gives the cake lift. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, leaving a dense, flat crumb.

Swap the currant

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Applefits about as well
  4. Currantthe original

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

You might also like

Brandy PeachesBrandy Peaches68 recipesRed Currant JellyRed Currant Jelly65 recipesClove CakeClove Cake53 recipesCurrant Ice CreamCurrant Ice Cream32 recipes