Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓
Solid Chocolate 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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the dissolved chocolate and coffee mixture, cloves, and cinnamon; mix well.
Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.
Gradually add the sifted flour and baking powder; mix until smooth.
Bake and finish
Pour the batter into prepared cake pans and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool the layers and spread white icing between them.
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.
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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Chocolate + coffeetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,497 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Coffee + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together895 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure once the batter sets in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps tenderize its crumb when creamed with butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
- Chocolate
- Gives the cake its chocolate flavor and deep color.
The step that matters
Gradually add the sifted flour and baking powder; mix until smooth.. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense. Mix only until the batter is smooth.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, chocolate, coffee, cinnamon, egg, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, chocolate, coffee, cinnamon, egg, 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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