Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Clove Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the molasses and sour milk, mixing well.
In another bowl, combine the flour, ground cloves, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Beat in the eggs until fully incorporated.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake slowly for 45 minutes.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + clovetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,483 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake's crumb as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter bind and set.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce rising and a lighter crumb.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep sweetness.
- Ground cloves
- Provides the warm, aromatic spice that defines the cake's flavour.
The step that matters
Stirring the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Stir only until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which can make the cake tough and dense rather than tender.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, molasses, milk, flour, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerfits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, milk, flour, egg. 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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