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 ↓
White Spice Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Sift the flour once, then measure it, adding baking soda and sift three times.
Cream the butter and sugar thoroughly.
Whip the egg whites to a foam, add cream of tartar, and whip until stiff.
Add the milk, then the flour and spices, and stir until smooth.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 30 to 40 minutes, increasing the heat slightly for the last 15 to 20 minutes.
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.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a foam, they trap air that lifts and lightens the cake's crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter, it sweetens the cake and helps give it a fine texture.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilizes the whipped egg whites, helping the foam hold its shape.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity in the batter to release gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Whipping the egg whites. Whites must be whipped until stiff without overbeating, since air bubbles provide much of the cake's lift. Underwhipped whites give a dense cake, while overwhipped whites turn grainy and collapse when folded into the batter.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, flour, sugar, milk, cream, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, flour, sugar, milk, cream, cinnamon. 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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