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Dessert

Sour Cream Cake

A cake made with sour cream, flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, raisins, cloves, and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Sour Cream Cake

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓

Sour Cream Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. Beat two eggs well.

  2. Add a pinch of salt.

  3. Add one cup sugar.

  4. Add one teaspoon vanilla.

  5. Add one cup sour cream.

  6. Add two cups flour.

  7. Add one-half teaspoon baking soda.

Bake

  1. Bake in a loaf pan or in gem irons.

Make a spice cake

  1. For a spice cake, add one cup raisins, one teaspoon cloves, and one teaspoon cinnamon.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

769Calories
37 gProtein
8 gFat
134 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 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 Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog]. 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.

  1. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  5. Vanilla + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,049 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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 give the cake structure as they set in the oven.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and tenderness, and its acidity activates the baking soda.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps keep the crumb tender and moist.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour cream's acid to release gas that lifts the batter.

The step that matters

Add one-half teaspoon baking soda.. Baking soda needs acid to work, and the sour cream provides it. Too much soda leaves a soapy, bitter taste and coarse crumb, while too little fails to lift the cake properly.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Allspicefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vanilla, cream, flour, raisin, egg, cinnamon. 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.

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