Why it works: Cinnamon and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,611 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓
Scotch Queen Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
Melt the butter and let it cool.
Sift the oat-meal into a pan and mix in the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and mace.
Make a hole in the center, add the melted butter, and mix with a knife to form a dough.
If the dough is too stiff, moisten it with a little rose-water.
Knead the dough well and roll it out into a large oval sheet, about 1-inch thick.
Shape and bake
Cut the dough into four cakes by slicing it down the middle and then across.
Prick the cakes with a fork and crimp the edges neatly.
Place the cakes in shallow pans and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until light brown.
Optionally, mix in currants before baking.
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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Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Rose + curranttop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together494 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Mace + curranttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,791 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Mace + rosetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together498 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 and richness, binding the dough and keeping the cakes tender.
- Oat-meal
- Forms the base structure of the cakes, absorbing the butter to hold the dough together.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown in the oven.
- Powdered cinnamon
- Contributes warm aroma and flavor to the cakes.
The step that matters
Adding rose-water to the dough. Oat-meal absorbs liquid unevenly, so adding rose-water only when the dough is too stiff, a little at a time, keeps it workable without making it sticky or wet.
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, cinnamon, mace, rose):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, cinnamon, mace, rose. 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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