Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓
Spice Cake
Ingredients
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the sour milk, chopped raisins, eggs, grated nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and baking soda. Mix until well combined and rather stiff.
Pour the batter into loaf tins.
Bake
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps give it a light crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and creaming it with sugar traps air for tenderness.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise and stay moist.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release gas that leavens the cake.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and natural sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Mixing the batter until well combined. Mixing until just combined develops the structure needed for a cake that rises well. Overmixing after the flour-free batter is combined can make the crumb tough, so stop once the batter is uniform and stiff.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Lemonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove. 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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