Name: Plain Hickory Nut Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; 1 cup hickory nut kernels, chopped fine; 2-3 cups butter; 3 eggs; 1 cup milk; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 3 cups flour (a little heaping); Flavoring, to taste

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 ↓

Plain Hickory Nut Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot 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.

Prepare the batter

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat together the sugar and butter.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift the baking powder with the flour and add to the mixture along with the milk and flavoring.
Mix until just combined; do not overbeat.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.
Bake for about 45-50 minutes 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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 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: Creams with the sugar to add fat and tenderness to the crumb.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, binding the batter as they set in the oven.
Flour: Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and become light.
Hickory nut kernels: Add nutty flavor and a slightly crunchy texture to the crumb.

The step that matters

Mix until just combined; do not overbeat.. Once flour meets liquid, gluten develops with mixing. Overbeating makes the cake tough and dense, while gentle mixing keeps it tender.

“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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Plain Hickory Nut Cake