Name: Molasses Pound Cake
Ingredients: 1 ½ pounds butter; 4 eggs; 2 cups molasses; ½ pound sugar; 2 cups milk; 1 tablespoon pearlash; Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg to taste; ⅓ cup brandy

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Molasses Pound Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the molasses and milk until combined.
Mix in the pearlash and spices to your liking.
Gradually add flour until the batter is the same thickness as pound cake batter.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, molasses, sugar, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg):

Clovethe original
Allspicefits about as well
Cardamomfits about as well
Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, molasses, sugar, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.