Why it works: Flour and caraway match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,435 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pound Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, beat the butter to a cream.
Gradually add the sugar, then the egg yolks and whites, and finally the flour.
Beat the mixture well for one hour.
If desired, mix in caraway seeds and brandy before baking.
Bake
Pour the batter into a buttered tin pan or small pans.
Bake until golden brown.
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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Flour + carawaytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,435 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).
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Rose + carawaytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together93 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Rose + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together560 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb once baked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, and is beaten to a cream to trap air for lift.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown in the oven.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness, fat and emulsifying power that bind the batter smoothly.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and help the cake rise and set as it bakes.
The step that matters
Beating the mixture for one hour. Long beating incorporates air into the butter and egg batter, which gives the cake its lift. Under-beating leaves a dense cake, while the batter should be mixed gently once the flour is added to avoid toughening the crumb.
Swap the caraway
The recipe marks caraway as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, rose, egg, brandy):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Carawaythe original
- Allspicefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, rose, 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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