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Dessert

Ribbon Jelly Cake

A layered cake with light and dark batter, separated by jelly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Ribbon Jelly Cake

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the batter

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

  2. In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the milk, flour, eggs, and baking powder; mix until smooth.

  4. Divide the batter in half.

  5. To one half, add cinnamon, cloves, allspice, molasses, and walnut-sized butter; mix well.

Bake

  1. Pour the light batter into two greased cake pans and the dark batter into one pan.

  2. Bake the light layers for about 25-30 minutes and the dark layer for about 30-35 minutes.

Assemble

  1. Once cooled, layer the cakes with jelly in between the dark layer and the light layers.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the main structure that holds the cake layers together.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps create a tender texture when creamed with butter.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep colour and a rich sweetness to the dark batter.

The step that matters

Let the cakes cool before layering with jelly. Warm cake layers are fragile and can crumble when handled, and warm cake will soften or melt the jelly, making the layers slide apart.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, flour, egg, cinnamon, allspice):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, flour, egg, cinnamon, allspice. 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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