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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
In another bowl, combine the sugar, milk, eggs, and melted butter.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.
Fold in the sliced apples.
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake
Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
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).
-
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
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
- Flour
- Provides the starch structure that holds the pudding together as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the batter rises and becomes lighter.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set during baking to give the pudding its firm body.
- Apples
- Add moisture and fruity flavor, softening as they cook through the batter.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the surface brown as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
The step that matters
Folding in the sliced apples. Fold gently so the batter keeps the air released by the baking powder. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which can make the pudding dense and tough.
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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