Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 11,917 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
May Jurena
Ingredients
Directions
SPICED SUGAR CAKE— Cream half a cup of butter with one and one-half cups of sugar, yolk of three eggs, two-thirds cup of milk, two heaping cups of flour, one teaspoon each of cinnamon and cloves, half a teaspoon of nutmeg, three teaspoons of baking powder and last the whites of three eggs. Soft Icing: One cup of sugar, half a cup of boiling water, quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar, whites of two eggs, one teaspoon of vanilla. Boil the water and the sugar until it threads, then add cream of tartar and pour it gradually over the beaten whites. Beat constantly until thick enough to spread.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,287 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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