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 ↓
Spice 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 oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together sugar and butter.
Add sour milk, syrup, and egg, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon, cloves, and baking soda with flour.
Gradually add dry ingredients to wet mixture until thickened.
Bake
Pour batter into greased baking pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes.
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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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the crumb and brown the surface.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Flour
- Provides structure and thickens the batter as the starch sets in the oven.
- Syrup
- Adds sweetness, moisture and a deeper flavor and color to the crumb.
The step that matters
Gradually add dry ingredients to wet mixture. Adding the dry mix slowly and stirring only until combined keeps the batter smooth and prevents overmixing, which would develop too much gluten and make the cake tough.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, syrup, egg, cinnamon, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Gingerfits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, syrup, egg, cinnamon, flour. 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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