Name: Canadian War Cake
Ingredients: two cups of brown sugar; two cups of hot water; one teaspoonful salt; one teaspoonful cin- namon; three cups of sifted flour; one tablespoonful hot water; two tablespoonfuls of lard are put in a sauce pan; one teaspoonful baking powder

Why it works: Sugar and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,147 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Canadian War Cake

Ingredients

two cups of brown sugar
two cups of hot water
one teaspoonful salt
one teaspoonful cin- namon
three cups of sifted flour
one tablespoonful hot water
two tablespoonfuls of lard are put in a sauce pan
one teaspoonful baking powder

Directions

Put two cups of brown sugar and two tablespoonfuls of lard in a saucepan with two cups of hot water. Add one teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful of cinnamon, and a package of seeded raisins.
Boil together for five minutes. Then cool. Add three cups of sifted flour with one teaspoonful of baking powder and one tablespoonful of hot water.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

619Calories

13 gProtein

14 gFat

108 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Lard	1 tbsp (12.8g)	115
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Sauce	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.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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. See the original page.

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.

Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,147 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,078 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps give the cake its dark colour.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Baking powder: Releases gas to make the cake rise and become light.
Lard: Adds fat, which tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
Seeded raisins (in the method): Add chewy pieces of fruit and extra sweetness throughout the cake.

The step that matters

Cool before adding the flour and baking powder. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it meets moisture and heat. Cooling the boiled mixture first helps keep that gas for lift in the oven, so the cake rises better.

“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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Canadian War Cake