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 ↓
Drop Cakes
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 shortening.
Add the sour milk and baking soda, mixing well.
Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Gradually stir in the flour, cinnamon, and cloves.
Fold in the raisins.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a greased baking sheet.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
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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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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Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Clove + raisintop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,070 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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 cookies brown and stay soft.
- Shortening
- Provides fat that tenderizes the dough and gives a rich texture.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda to help the cakes rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk's acidity to produce gas, lifting the batter.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding, helping the batter hold its shape while baking.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cakes as its proteins and starches set in the oven.
The step that matters
Beating in the eggs one at a time. Adding each egg fully before the next keeps the creamed fat and sugar emulsified. A broken emulsion can make the batter look curdled and bake up with a coarser, uneven crumb.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, flour, cinnamon, raisin):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, flour, cinnamon, raisin. 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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