Name: Taft Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups Sperry flour; 1 teaspoon Folger's Golden Gate cinnamon; ½ teaspoon Folger's Golden Gate cloves; ½ teaspoon Folger's Golden Gate nutmeg; 2 tablespoons corn starch; 3 tablespoons chocolate; 2 teaspoons Folger's Golden Gate baking soda; ½ cup butter; 1 cup apple sauce

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 ↓

Taft Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

2 cups Sperry flour
1 teaspoon Folger's Golden Gate cinnamon
½ teaspoon Folger's Golden Gate cloves
½ teaspoon Folger's Golden Gate nutmeg
2 tablespoons corn starch
3 tablespoons chocolate
2 teaspoons Folger's Golden Gate baking soda
½ cup butter
1 cup apple sauce

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

Sift together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, corn starch, chocolate, and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and add the apple sauce.
Combine the dry ingredients with the butter mixture until well blended.
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.

Bake

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 40 minutes.

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + appletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Clove + appletop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Sperry flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Butter: Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Apple sauce: Adds moisture so the cake stays soft and moist.
Baking soda: Reacts with the batter to help it rise and lighten.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, corn, chocolate, butter):

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Coconutfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, corn, chocolate, butter. 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.