Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Maryland Apple 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.
Prepare the apples
Melt the butter in two frying pans over medium heat.
Add the peeled and cored apples and fry slowly until done.
Stir in the sugar and ground cinnamon, cooking a little longer until the apples are brown.
Assemble and bake
Butter a baking pan and line it with the rolled‑out sweet paste.
Pour in the apple mixture and cover with a thin crust.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes, or until golden without scorching.
Serve
Turn the cake out upside down onto a board or sheet of tin and cut into squares to serve.
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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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Apples
- Provide the bulk and the fruity flavour of the filling, softening as they fry.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the apples fry gently without sticking.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the apples brown as they cook down.
- Ground cinnamon
- Adds warm aroma to the apple filling.
- Sweet paste
- Forms the crust that encloses the apple filling and holds the cake together.
The step that matters
Browning the apple mixture. Cooking the apples with sugar until brown develops caramelised flavour, but too much heat or time can scorch the sugar. Keep the heat moderate and stir so the filling browns evenly before it goes into the crust.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, cinnamon. 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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