Name: Plum Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 2 cups self-rising flour; 1 cup soy oil; 3 eggs; 1 tsp. cinnamon; 1 tsp. cloves; 2 small jars plum baby food

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 ↓

Plum Cake

Oven325 degrees

Time1 hour and 15 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Grease and flour tube pan.
Sift flour 3 times.

Make the batter

Add sugar and oil. Mix.
Then add eggs, one at a time.
Add spices and then baby food.

Bake and serve

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Serve with vanilla ice cream or top with Robertson’s lemon curd.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

753Calories

21 gProtein

20 gFat

120 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Baby Food	not in our table	0

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.

Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Cinnamon + plumtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together513 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Clove + plumtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together446 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
Self-rising flour: Provides the structure of the cake and, with its built-in leavening, helps it rise.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps give it a tender, browned crust.
Soy oil: Adds fat for moisture and a tender crumb.
Plum baby food: Adds fruit, moisture and sweetness to the batter.

Swap the plum

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

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Plumthe original

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