Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Spice 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.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar together until smooth.
Gradually add the flour and eggs, mixing well after each addition.
Add the brandy and spices alternately, mixing until combined.
Dissolve the baking soda in the sour cream and stir it into the batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased mold and bake until a toothpick 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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to give the cake a tender, fine-textured crumb and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and richness, binding the batter as it bakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and tang, and its acidity activates the baking soda for lift.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps tenderize it when creamed with butter.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in the sour cream. Baking soda needs an acid to react and release gas. Mixing it into the acidic sour cream before adding it to the batter spreads the reaction evenly, so the cake rises uniformly rather than in patches.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, egg, cinnamon, brandy, cream):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, egg, cinnamon, brandy, cream. 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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