Name: Spice Cake
Ingredients: two cupfuls of vinegar; one cupful butter; one cupful milk; two teaspoonfuls of baking powder; one cupful dried currants; three eggs; one half cupful e s raisins

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Spice Cake

Ingredients

Directions

MRS. JAMES M' QUEEN.
Take three eggs, two cupfuls of vinegar, one cupful butter, e • one cupful milk, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, three i cupfuls flour, one cupful dried currants, and one half cupful e s raisins. Spice with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, to suit the I taste.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

849Calories

28 gProtein

26 gFat

124 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3

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

By Keokuk (Iowa). Westminster Presbyterian church. 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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Vinegar + curranttop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together693 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,155 recipes

Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,475 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, butter, milk, currant, egg):

Raspberryfits better
Figfits better
Strawberryfits better
Raisinthe original

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