Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Apple Sauce 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the apple sauce, raisins, and hot water; mix well.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.
Bake
Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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.
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 + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to add fat and tenderness to the crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Apple sauce
- Adds moisture and natural sweetness, keeping the cake soft.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the batter's acidity to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender, moist texture.
The step that matters
Stirring the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense. Stir only until the flour is just combined, leaving small lumps.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, sauce, raisin, cinnamon, clove):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
- Quincefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, sauce, raisin, cinnamon, clove. 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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