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Dessert

Baking Powder Cinnamon Cake

A simple cake made with sugar, baking powder, flour, vanilla, milk, lemon, eggs, and topped with butter, sugar, cinnamon, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Kaufman, Nettie M · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Baking Powder Cinnamon Cake

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine 1 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons baking powder.

  2. Add 1 cup butter and a pinch of salt.

  3. Add 1 cup flour.

  4. Add juice and rind of 1 lemon, or 1 teaspoon vanilla.

  5. Mix together; then add 2 whole eggs mixed with 1 cup milk.

Top and bake

  1. Pour into a large flat pan; sprinkle top with butter, sugar, cinnamon, and almonds.

  2. Bake in quick oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

755Calories
28 gProtein
15 gFat
124 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Kaufman, Nettie M. 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.

  1. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vanilla + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that sets the crumb as the batter bakes.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps the top brown.
Milk
Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, pourable batter.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, vanilla, milk, egg. 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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