Why it works: Clove and cinnamon 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 ↓
Bread 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, mix together the bread dough, sugar, butter, raisins, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon until well combined.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into baking pans.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.
Check for doneness with a toothpick.
Let cool before serving.
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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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bread dough
- Provides the bready base and structure of the cake.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist crumb.
- Raisins
- Add chewy pockets of concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
- Ground cinnamon
- Adds warm, sweet aroma to the cake.
The step that matters
Check for doneness with a toothpick. Surface browning can come before the center is fully baked, and the sugar and fruit hold moisture. Testing the center with a toothpick confirms it is set before cooling.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, butter, clove, allspice, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangefits about as well
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, butter, clove, allspice, 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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