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Dessert

Indian Pound Cake

A sweet cake made with eggs, powdered sugar, Indian meal, wheat flour, butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, and wine and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Indian Pound Cake

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 ↓

Indian Pound Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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

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

  2. Cream the butter and powdered sugar together.

  3. Beat the eggs until very light.

Mix the batter

  1. Alternately stir the Indian meal and eggs into the butter and sugar mixture.

  2. Add the grated nutmeg, cinnamon, and mixed wine and brandy. Mix everything well.

Bake and serve

  1. Butter a tin pan, pour in the mixture, and bake until done.

  2. Serve fresh.

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.

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.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Wheat + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together537 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Wheat + nutmegtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together359 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Provide structure and lift as they are beaten, setting the cake as it bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness when creamed with the sugar.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the batter and helps the creamed butter hold air.
Indian meal
Forms the body of the cake and gives it a coarse, grainy texture.
Wheat flour
Adds structure that helps the cake hold its shape while baking.
Wine and brandy
Adds moisture and aroma to the batter.

The step that matters

Beat the eggs until very light. Well-beaten eggs trap air that expands in the oven and gives the cake its lift. Under-beaten eggs leave a dense, heavy crumb.

“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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