Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Spice Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the sour milk, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and fruit, and mix well.
Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of the sour milk and add it to the mixture.
Stir in flour until the batter is thick enough to drop from a spoon.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown while baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Sour milk
- Provides moisture and acidity that react with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that leavens the batter.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Fruit
- Adds moisture and natural sweetness to the batter.
The step that matters
Stir in flour until the batter is thick enough to drop from a spoon.. Flour is what gives the cake its structure. Too little leaves a loose batter that spreads and sinks, while overmixing once flour is added develops gluten and makes the crumb tough.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour):
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour. 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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