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Dessert

Apple Cake

A moist cake made with apples, molasses, sour milk, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Apple Cake

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 ↓

Apple Cake

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

  1. If using green apples, boil the chopped apples in molasses for 1 hour; if using dried apples, boil for 2 hours.

  2. Allow the mixture to cool, then add sour milk, eggs, shortening, sugar, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour.

Bake

  1. Mix until well combined.

  2. Pour the batter into two loaf pans.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick inserted in the center 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.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture and a deep sweetness to the cake.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help set the crumb during baking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to lift the batter.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries the spices.
Apples
Contribute moisture and fruit flavor that bakes into the cake.

The step that matters

Cooling the apple mixture before adding the rest. Baking soda reacts quickly with the acidic sour milk and molasses, so the batter should not be left to sit or be overheated before baking. Adding ingredients to a hot mixture can also melt the shortening and weaken the rise, so letting it cool first helps the cake lift evenly.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, egg, sugar, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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.

More apple cake recipes

Dried 62Dutch 43German 12Molasses 9Filling 8Danish 4 See all 117 →

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