Name: Honey Cake
Ingredients: 1 cup honey; 1 cup sugar; ½ cup melted butter; 2 beaten eggs; 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon caraway seeds

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 ↓

Honey Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot 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).
In a bowl, mix together honey and sugar.

Make and bake the batter

Add melted butter, beaten eggs, flour, baking powder, and caraway seeds.
Stir until you have a smooth batter.
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake for 30 minutes.

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.

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.

Flour + carawaytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,435 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Honey + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,327 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Honey: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake stay tender and browned.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the crumb brown in the oven.
Butter: Adds fat and richness, giving a tender texture.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as they set.
All-purpose flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.

The step that matters

Bake for 30 minutes at 400°F. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as the batter is mixed, so the batter should go into the pan and into the oven promptly. Honey and sugar brown quickly at high heat, so watch the cake to avoid over-browning or underbaking in the center.