Name: Country Apple Prune Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 1½ cups vegetable oil; 3 eggs; 2 cups apples; peeled, shredded; 3 cups all purpose flour; 2 tsp baking soda; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; ½ tsp ground cloves; 1 pkg dried pitted prunes; 12 oz pkg, chopped, to make 2 cups; 1 cup nuts; chopped

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 ↓

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).
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,774 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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.
All purpose flour: Forms the main structure of the cake as its starches set during baking.
Vegetable oil: Adds moisture and a tender crumb that stays soft after cooling.
Baking soda: Reacts with the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps keep it moist and tender.
Dried prunes: Add moisture, natural sweetness and a dense, chewy texture.

The step that matters

Gradually beat in the dry ingredients. Adding the flour mixture slowly and mixing only until combined keeps the batter smooth and prevents overworking the flour, which would make the cake tough.

Swap the nuts

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

Chestnutfits better
Almondfits better
Chickpeafits better
Nutsthe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Cloves	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Prune	not in our table	0

Country Apple Prune Cake