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 ↓
Spice 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.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter in a large bowl.
Add the sugar, egg yolks, and spices to the butter.
Beat the mixture until very light.
Dissolve the baking soda in 1 teaspoon of sour cream.
Mix the dissolved baking soda into the batter.
Add the egg whites and flour.
Mix until combined.
Add the fruit and bake
Fold in the fruit, ensuring the raisins are pitted and the citron is cut to your liking.
Pour the batter into paper-lined pans and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat that gives the cake a tender, rich texture.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help trap air for lift.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps create a tender crumb when creamed with butter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in sour cream to release gas that lifts the batter.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and acidity, which activates the baking soda.
The step that matters
Beat the mixture until very light. Beating air into the butter, sugar and eggs creates tiny bubbles that help the cake rise and give it a light, even crumb. Underbeating leaves a dense cake.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, raisin, cream, cinnamon, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, raisin, cream, cinnamon, 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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