Why it works: Flour and caraway match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,435 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Pound Cake
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
In a bowl, mix the sugar and butter by hand for 10 minutes until well combined.
Add the beaten egg yolks and whites, and mix thoroughly.
Gently fold in the sifted flour, caraway seeds, candied orange peel, and currants until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a prepared cake pan.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Flour + carawaytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,435 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Caraway + orangetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together158 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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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).
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Orange + curranttop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,034 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cake its rich, tender crumb.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness, fat and moisture, and help bind the batter.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and lift as the cake bakes and sets.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a fine, tender texture when creamed with butter.
The step that matters
Gently fold in the flour and add-ins. Overmixing once the flour is added develops gluten, making the cake tough and dense. Folding only until combined keeps the crumb tender and preserves the air beaten into the batter.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, flour, caraway, orange):
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, flour, caraway, orange. 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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