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Dessert

Clove Cake

A moist cake flavored with cloves, cinnamon, raisins, and molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Clove Cake

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Clove Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until smooth.

  2. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream.

  3. In a separate bowl, mix the cloves, cinnamon, raisins, flour, and baking soda dissolved in a little water.

  4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until well combined.

  5. Fold in the molasses.

  6. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

Bake

  1. Bake in the preheated oven, testing with a straw for doneness.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Adds fat that gives the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps keep the cake soft.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with acidic ingredients to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and acidity, supporting a tender texture.

The step that matters

Adding the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form, and overmixing makes the cake tough and dense. Stir only until the flour is just combined, leaving small lumps if needed.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, cream, cinnamon, raisin, flour):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, cream, cinnamon, raisin, 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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