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Dessert

Spanish Cake

A spiced cake made with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, spices, baking powder, soda, buttermilk, dried prune, walnuts, raisins, and frosted with cream cheese.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 15 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 cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spanish Cake

Oven350 degrees
Time35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream butter and sugar together.

  2. Add egg; beat until light and fluffy.

  3. Sift together flour, spices, and baking powder and soda.

  4. Add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.

  5. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Bake and finish

  1. Turn into greased 8 inch square pan.

  2. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

  3. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then turn onto rack to cool thoroughly.

  4. Cut into 3 strips.

  5. Spread cream cheese frosting between layers and on top of cake.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

948Calories
29 gProtein
30 gFat
142 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 13 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Walnut1 walnut half (4g)26
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Prunenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and tenderness to the crumb.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure and moisture as it beats into the creamed mixture.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake once the batter is baked.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas that lifts the cake.
Baking powder
Provides additional lift so the cake rises evenly in the oven.

The step that matters

Adding the buttermilk alternately with the flour mixture. Alternating additions and beating well keeps the batter smooth and emulsified, so the cake bakes with an even, tender crumb rather than a dense or curdled texture.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Turmericfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon. 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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