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Dessert

Hard Time Cake

A spiced raisin cake made with lard, brown sugar, and spices, baked in a loaf pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Hard Time 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.

Make the batter

  1. Boil water, brown sugar, raisins, lard, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and cloves together for 2 minutes.

  2. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool.

  3. Once cool, add sifted flour, baking soda, and baking powder to the mixture. Mix well and pour into a loaf pan.

Bake

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity in the batter to produce gas for rising.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking to help the cake rise.
Lard
Adds fat for a tender crumb and moist texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deeper caramel flavour.
Seeded raisins
Add chewy texture and natural sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Cool the boiled mixture before adding the flour. Adding the leavening to a hot mixture can cause it to react too quickly and lose its rising power. Letting it cool first keeps the baking soda and baking powder active for a better rise in the oven.

Swap the nuts

The recipe marks nuts as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, raisin, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, flour):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Pistachiofits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, raisin, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, flour. 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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