Name: Spiced Chocolate Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 1 cup sour milk; 1 teaspoon soda; 2 cups flour; 1/2 teaspoon cloves; 4 eggs; two por frosting; 14 cake melted chocolate

Why it works: Sugar and chocolate are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,404 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Spiced Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Directions

4 eggs; save the whites of two Por frosting; 2 cups sugar. 1/; cup butter, 1 cup sour milk, 1 teaspoon soda, 2 cups flour, V> teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon cloves. 14 cake melted chocolate.
Mrs. B., Mrs. Sill.
\Z6 THE WARREN COOK BOOK

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

893Calories

29 gProtein

24 gFat

139 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Sour Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cake	not in our table	0

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

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary 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.

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.

Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,404 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,128 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + clovetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,671 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 (sugar, milk, flour, egg, chocolate):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Jalapenofits better
Clovethe original

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