Why it works: Cinnamon and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Nut Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a steady oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the cold water, egg yolks, mace, and cinnamon; mix well.
Stir in the flour alternately with the stiffened egg whites until just combined.
Fold in the hickory nut kernels gently.
Pour the batter into a well-greased loaf pan.
Bake and finish
Bake at 350°F (175°C), covering with brown paper for the first 30 minutes.
Check for doneness with a straw; it should come out clean.
Let the cake cool.
Turn it out and cover with a plain egg white icing.
Decorate the top with half-kernels of hickory nuts.
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 + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mace + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens and, creamed with butter, helps give the cake a light, fluffy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness, moisture and emulsifying power to the batter.
- Egg whites
- Stiffened whites folded in trap air, giving the cake lift and a lighter crumb.
- Prepared flour
- Forms the cake's structure as the proteins set during baking.
- Hickory nut kernels
- Add nutty flavour and texture; flouring them helps keep them suspended in the batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the stiffened egg whites. Stirring in the flour and whites only until just combined keeps the air bubbles from the whites intact and avoids overworking the flour, which would make the cake tough and dense.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, cinnamon, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, 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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