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Iny’s Prune Cake

I was fortunate enough to happen upon this recipe for my great-grandmother Iny's Prune Cake a few years ago. Written by her f...

By thepioneerwoman · From Open Recipes · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 11,917 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 12
Prep25 min
Cook40 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

  • FOR THE CAKE
  • FOR THE ICING

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Put the chopped prunes in a small saucepan, cover with water, and simmer about 10 minutes until soft. Drain well and chop finely if they are still in pieces.

  2. Heat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Use a 9x13-inch baking pan.

  3. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and canola oil together, then beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth.

  4. Sift the flour with the baking soda, nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

  5. Add the dry mixture to the egg mixture alternately with the buttermilk, mixing until just combined. Stir in the vanilla extract and the drained prunes.

  6. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack.

  7. For the icing, combine the sugar, buttermilk, baking soda, white corn syrup and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

  8. Remove the icing from the heat, stir in the vanilla, and let it cool 5 to 10 minutes until thick enough to spread. Spread over the cooled cake.

By thepioneerwoman. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Flour + buttermilktop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,667 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, canola oil, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, buttermilk):

  1. Cardamombetter flavor fit
  2. Allspicethe original
  3. Gingerabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Cloveabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, canola oil, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, buttermilk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).