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 ↓
Common Fruit 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the brown sugar and butter.
Add the milk and mix well.
Gradually stir in the flour until combined.
Fold in the raisins and any spices you are using.
If using sour milk, add the baking soda; if using sweet milk, add the baking powder.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 1 hour 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.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay tender.
- Butter
- Adds fat that creams with the sugar to trap air and give a tender crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as the batter bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
- Baking soda or baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises; soda pairs with sour milk, powder with sweet milk.
The step that matters
Adding the leavening to the correct milk. Baking soda needs an acid, such as sour milk, to react and produce gas; using it with sweet milk gives poor rise. Baking powder carries its own acid, so it suits sweet milk. Matching the leavener to the milk lets the cake rise properly.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, flour, raisin, egg, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, flour, raisin, egg, 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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