Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓
Brown 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 batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the sour milk and egg, mixing well.
Stir in the nutmeg, cinnamon, and baking soda.
Fold in the seeded raisins and enough flour to create a stiff batter.
Bake and serve
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool before serving.
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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps give it a tender, browned crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
- Sour milk
- Provides moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Seeded raisins
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness and moisture throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Folding in the flour to a stiff batter. Too much mixing after the flour is added develops gluten, which can make the cake tough. Stirring just until the flour is combined keeps the crumb tender while still giving the batter enough body to hold the raisins evenly.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour):
- Vanillafits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits less well
- Blueberryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour. 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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