Why it works: Caraway and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,435 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Seed 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 dough
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the milk and caraway seeds.
Gradually add flour and baking powder until the dough is easy to roll.
Shape and bake
Roll the dough out thin and cut into desired shapes.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.
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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Caraway + flourtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,435 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the batter and helping it set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, adding tenderness and rich flavour.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a light texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour so the dough comes together.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking to help the cake rise.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the dough bakes.
The step that matters
Adding the flour and baking powder. Mixing flour develops gluten, which toughens the dough if overworked. Add flour gradually and stop once the dough is easy to roll, so the cut shapes stay tender and hold their form.
Swap the caraway
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Carawaythe original
- Jalapenofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour. 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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