Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Pound Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Cream half the flour with the butter.
Add brandy and spices.
Beat the yolks until light, then add sugar.
Fold in the beaten whites and the rest of the flour alternately.
Mix thoroughly and beat steadily for 30 minutes.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until done.
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 + macetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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).
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Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,311 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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
- Yolks add richness and the whites trap air, giving the cake structure and lift.
- Butter
- Fat coats the flour and tenderizes the crumb, adding moisture and flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps hold moisture and a fine, tender texture.
- Flour
- Provides the protein network that sets the cake's structure as it bakes.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavor while the liquid contributes a little moisture to the batter.
- Nutmeg
- Contributes warm aroma to the batter.
The step that matters
Fold in the whites and flour alternately. Gentle folding keeps the air beaten into the egg whites, which lifts the cake. Overmixing after the flour goes in develops gluten, making the crumb tough and dense.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, brandy, nutmeg, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, brandy, nutmeg, 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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