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Loaf Dutch Cake

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Loaf Dutch 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.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Mix the baking powder with the flour.

  3. Dissolve soda and cream of tartar in the sour milk.

  4. Combine the milk mixture with the flour mixture.

  5. Add flavoring extracts and fruit last, ensuring fruit is coated in flour.

  6. If using, blanch almonds by pouring boiling water over them until skins pop off.

  7. Beat the batter minimally after adding flour.

  8. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with buttered paper.

  9. Bake until done, checking with a skewer; it should come out clean.

  10. Turn the cake out of the pan immediately, avoiding drafts.

  11. Store the cake in an earthenware container or tin box, wrapped in cloth.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Bread + almondtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together858 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Swap the almond

The recipe marks almond as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, flour, milk):

  1. Chestnutfits about as well
  2. Almondthe original
  3. Lentilsfits less well
  4. Chickpeafits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, flour, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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