Name: Fine Spongati Italian Cake
Ingredients: 1 pound 6 ounces white bread, dried and ground to coarse powder (about 4 cups); 1 pound 4 ounces walnuts, blanched and finely chopped (about 4 cups); 6 ounces currants, washed and cleaned (about 1 cup); 5 ounces wild pine kernels (about 1 cup); 5 pounds 5 ounces virgin honey, clarified (about 6 cups); 3 grains ground cinnamon; 1 grain ground cloves; 1 grain ground black pepper; 1 grain ground nutmeg

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 ↓

Fine Spongati Italian Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slack oven

Ingredients

1 pound 6 ounces white bread, dried and ground to coarse powder (about 4 cups)
1 pound 4 ounces walnuts, blanched and finely chopped (about 4 cups)
6 ounces currants, washed and cleaned (about 1 cup)
5 ounces wild pine kernels (about 1 cup)
5 pounds 5 ounces virgin honey, clarified (about 6 cups)
3 grains ground cinnamon
1 grain ground cloves
1 grain ground black pepper
1 grain ground nutmeg

Directions

The book says “a slack oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C).

Make the filling

In a large bowl, mix together the ground bread, chopped walnuts, currants, pine kernels, and clarified honey.
Add the ground cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and nutmeg to the mixture and combine well.

Shape and bake

Enclose the mixture in a crust paste and shape as desired.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour.

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Walnut + pinetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together311 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Pine + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together152 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,147 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

White bread: Forms the bulk of the filling and absorbs honey, giving the cake a dense, moist body.
Walnuts: Add fat and crunch, giving the filling texture and a rich, nutty flavor.
Virgin honey: Provides sweetness and binds the filling together while keeping it moist.
Currants: Add chewy pockets of concentrated sweetness and fruitiness throughout the filling.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, walnut, pine, honey, cinnamon, clove, pepper):

Figfits better
Limefits better
Cherryfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, walnut, pine, honey, cinnamon, clove, pepper. 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.