Name: Small Cakes
Ingredients: 3 cups brown sugar; 1 cup butter; 1 cup sour milk; 1 teaspoon soda; 2 teaspoons cinnamon; 2 teaspoons cloves; 2 teaspoons nutmeg; four eggs beaten

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 ↓

Small Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Four eggs beaten, 3 cups brown sugar, 1 cup butter, 1 cup sour milk, 1 teaspoon soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 2 teaspoons cloves, 2 teaspoons nutmeg, flour enough to make soft batter, y2 package of seeded raisins. Mrs. E. J. Henry.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

403Calories

15 gProtein

26 gFat

30 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Sour Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6

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.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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 (sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg):

Cardamomfits about as well
Clovethe original
Allspicefits about as well
Gingerfits less well

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