Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Hickory Nut 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.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing until smooth.
Fold in the beaten eggs and hickory nuts.
Flavor with almond or vanilla extract.
Pour the batter into a loaf pan or a dripper, reserving 24 nut halves for the top.
Bake and finish
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.
Frost the cake and cut it into squares.
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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Nuts + almondtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together394 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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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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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air and add richness and a tender crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Hickory nuts
- Add crunch, nutty flavor and texture throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Adding flour in portions and mixing until smooth keeps the batter evenly combined. Overmixing once flour is in develops gluten, which can make the cake tough.
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, almond):
- Pistachiofits better
- Hazelnutfits better
- Cashew nutfits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, almond. 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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