Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Baked Apple Pudding
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.
Prepare the apples
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Peel, core, and cut the apples into eighths.
Place the apples in a pudding dish with half the sugar, cinnamon, and water.
Bake for about 20 minutes until nearly done.
Make the batter
In a bowl, rub the butter and remaining sugar together.
Add the beaten egg and milk, mixing well.
Sift the baking powder and enough flour to make a thick batter into the mixture.
Bake and serve
Once the apples are tender, stir them, then carefully pour the batter over the top.
Return the dish to the oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
Serve with cream sauce.
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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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Milk + buttertop 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).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Apples
- Provide the fruit base and moisture that cooks down around the batter.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the batter rises and becomes light.
- Flour
- Forms the body of the thick batter and gives the pudding its structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat that enriches the batter and contributes tenderness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dish and helps the batter brown at the surface.
The step that matters
Pouring the batter over the apples. The apples should be tender but not fully broken down before the batter goes on. Stirring them first and pouring the batter carefully keeps the batter on top, so it bakes into a cake layer rather than sinking into the fruit.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, flour, cinnamon, egg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, flour, cinnamon, egg, butter. 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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