Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Old-fashioned Pound-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 and mix the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter. Add the spice.
Beat the yolks of the eggs until thick and frothy.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Combine the yolks and whites.
Gradually add the sugar while beating.
Add a small portion of the flour to the butter mixture. Stir to form a light batter.
Add the brandy.
Fold in the egg and sugar mixture.
Add the remaining flour. Mix well.
Bake
Pour the batter into buttered loaf pans, filling them two-thirds full.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center 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.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,311 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Whipped yolks and whites add lift and a tender, airy crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds richness and a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps stabilize the beaten egg foam.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavor to the batter.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Egg whites hold air only when beaten to stiff peaks, and that trapped air gives the cake its lift. Underbeaten whites give a dense cake, while overbeaten whites turn grainy and collapse when folded in.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, egg, brandy):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Capersfits less well
- Allspicefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, egg, brandy. 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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