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Dessert

Fruit Cake

A dense cake made with butter, sugar, molasses, sour cream, eggs, raisins, currants, nutmeg, citron, cloves, mace, baking soda, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,377 recipes. Both carry alpha-terpineol, which smells lilac, floral. The science ↓

Fruit Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

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

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Add the molasses and sour cream, mixing well.

  4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, ensuring each is fully incorporated.

  5. Stir in the raisins, currants, nutmeg, citron, cloves, and mace.

  6. Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of warm water and add it to the mixture.

  7. Gradually add the flour, mixing until just combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

  2. Bake for 1 to 1.5 hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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 + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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

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

  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

Butter
Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Sugar
Creamed with butter for lightness and adds sweetness and browning.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep flavor and dark color to the cake.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream and molasses to help the cake rise.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it spreads evenly through the batter; pockets of it can leave soapy taste and uneven rising.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, cream, egg, raisin, nutmeg. 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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