Name: Cinnamon Cake
Ingredients: 1 cup granulated sugar; 1 egg-sized piece of butter; 1 egg; 1 cup milk; 2 cups flour; 1 teaspoon cream of tartar; ½ teaspoon baking soda; Sugar for sprinkling; Cinnamon for sprinkling

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cinnamon 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 the batter

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the egg and milk, mixing well.
Sift the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda together, then add to the mixture.

Bake

Pour the batter into a shallow pan.
Sprinkle the top with sugar and cinnamon.
Bake for about 15 minutes.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Egg: Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Cream of tartar: Acidifies the batter so it reacts with the baking soda to lift the cake.
Butter: Adds fat for tenderness and flavor in the crumb.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps it brown on top.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, milk, flour, cream):

Nutmegfits about as well
Cinnamonthe original
Capersfits less well
Jalapenofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, milk, flour, 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.