Name: Spice Cake
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons cinna- mon; 1 teaspoon cloves; 1 cup seeded raisins; 2 cups flour; one even cupful sugar; 2 heaping tablespoonfuls butter; 2 eggs beaten separately; 1 even cup sour milk; 1 tea- spoonful soda

Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Spice Cake

Ingredients

Directions

One even cupful sugar, \]/2 heaping tablespoonfuls butter, 2 eggs beaten separately, ½ cup molasses, 2 teaspoons cinna- mon, 1 teaspoon cloves, 1 even cup sour milk, with 1 tea- spoonful soda, 1 cup seeded raisins, about 2 cups flour.
Mrs. Hal D. Tracy.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

902Calories

28 gProtein

27 gFat

138 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Sour Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7

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

By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.). 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Clove + raisintop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,070 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together738 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, flour, sugar, butter, egg, milk, tea):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Gingerfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, flour, sugar, butter, egg, milk, tea. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.