Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Loaf 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the milk and yeast until combined.
Gradually add the flour, mixing until smooth.
Season with cloves and nutmeg to taste.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.
Bake for about 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the loaf together as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter bind and set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavour, and creaming it with sugar traps air in the batter.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown while creaming with butter aerates the batter.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that helps the loaf rise before the structure sets in the oven.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour, mixing until smooth.. Mixing flour in gradually and only until smooth keeps the batter from overdeveloping gluten, which would make the loaf tough and dense.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, egg, milk, nutmeg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, egg, milk, 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.
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