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Dessert

Syrup Cake

A cake made with flour, baking soda, spices, syrup, butter, brown sugar, egg, buttermilk, baked at 300°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Syrup 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. In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients together.

  2. Melt the butter, syrup, and brown sugar together, then pour into the dry ingredients.

  3. Add the egg and buttermilk, and mix well.

  4. Pour the batter into a well-greased baking tin.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for about 30 minutes.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 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

All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure of the cake batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the buttermilk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and a deeper caramel flavour.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.

The step that matters

Mixing the wet and dry ingredients. Once the liquid meets the baking soda, gas starts forming, so the batter should be mixed well and baked promptly to keep the rise. Overmixing can develop gluten and make the cake tough.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Clovefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cinnamon, ginger, syrup, butter, sugar, egg. 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.

More syrup cake recipes

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