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Dessert

New York Cup Cake

A cake made with eggs, flour, sugar, butter, milk, wine, spices, baking soda, and vinegar, baked in a loaf pan.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

New York Cup 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.

Make the batter

  1. Warm the milk and cut in the butter, keeping it over low heat until melted.

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs very light, then stir in the milk mixture alternately with the flour.

  3. Add the grated nutmeg, cinnamon, and white wine.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in a little vinegar and stir it into the mixture. Mix everything together thoroughly.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a loaf pan and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until golden.

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.

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.

  1. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Eggs
Beaten eggs provide structure and help bind the batter as it sets.
Flour
Forms the main structure of the cake as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the vinegar to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Powdered white sugar
Adds sweetness and helps browning as the cake bakes.

The step that matters

Dissolve the baking soda in vinegar before mixing. Baking soda needs an acid to release carbon dioxide. Dissolving it in vinegar first and mixing it in promptly lets the gas form in the batter and lift the cake while it bakes.

“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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