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 ↓
Date 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 mixing bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar.
Add the milk and eggs, and mix well.
In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until smooth.
Fold in the chopped dates.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes or 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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + datestop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together283 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the cake a tender crumb and flavour.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay soft.
- Eggs
- Provide structure as they set, binding the batter and adding richness.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, making the cake rise and become light.
- Dates
- Add natural sweetness and moisture, so the cake stays soft and chewy.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in stages and mixing only until smooth keeps the batter from overmixing. Too much mixing develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense.
Swap the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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