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Dessert

Plum Cake

A moist, spiced cake made with raisins, currants, almonds, molasses, and butter, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Plum Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA very slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the batter

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

  2. In a large bowl, combine the raisins, currants, brown sugar, chopped almonds, chopped citron, and chopped lemon peel.

  3. Add the molasses, softened butter, and eggs to the mixture and mix well.

  4. Season with cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg to taste.

  5. Stir in the sweet milk and Magic Soda last.

  6. Add enough flour to make a stiff batter.

  7. Brown the flour on the stove before sifting it into the mixture.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake in the preheated oven 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. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

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

  2. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).

  4. Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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 as they set during baking.
Flour
Forms the stiff batter that gives the cake its body and structure.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture.
Magic soda
Leavens the batter so it rises and lightens as it bakes.

The step that matters

Stir in the sweet milk and Magic Soda last. Leavening works best when added at the end of mixing, so it is not overworked or lost before the batter goes into the oven. Adding it too early can reduce its rising power.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, almond, lemon, molasses, butter, egg):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, almond, lemon, molasses, butter, egg. 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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