Name: Seed Cake
Ingredients: 6 ounces of flour; 6 ounces of ground rice; 8 eggs; ½ pound of sugar; ½ ounce of caraway seeds

Why it works: Flour and caraway match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,435 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Seed Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

Mix the flour, ground rice, and sugar together.
Add the beaten eggs and caraway seeds, and mix well until fully combined.

Bake

Pour the mixture into a buttered tin mold.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

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.

Flour + carawaytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,435 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rice + carawaytop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together64 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + ricetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,611 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 as the starch sets during baking.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add moisture, helping the cake rise and set.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the crumb brown and stay tender.
Ground rice: Gives a fine, tender crumb that is slightly lighter than flour alone.
Caraway seeds: Add a distinct aromatic, slightly spicy flavour to the cake.