Why it works: Dates and walnut work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 302 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Drop Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until well combined.
Add the baking powder, flour, dates, and walnuts, and mix until incorporated.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake and serve
Bake until the cake is set and drops slightly in the center.
Let it cool, then cut into strips.
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.
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.
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Dates + walnuttop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together302 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Flour + walnuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + datestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set into the cake's structure as they cook.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender crumb when beaten with the eggs.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter to help the cake rise and lighten.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
- Dates
- Add moisture and natural sweetness to the cake.
- Walnuts
- Add texture and a toasty, nutty flavor to the cake.
The step that matters
Bake until the cake is set and drops slightly in the center. Underbaking leaves the centre wet and gummy because the eggs and flour have not finished setting. Baking until the centre just dips shows the structure has firmed, so the cake holds its shape once cooled.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour, dates):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Mixed nutsfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, dates. 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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