Why it works: Flour and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Delicious Cake for Tea and Dessert
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the base
Mix baking powder with flour.
Rub in butter until it resembles fine bread crumbs.
Add sugar and cinnamon to the mixture.
Mix with the yolk of the egg to form a stiff paste.
Roll out the dough to the size of a dinner plate.
Place the dough on a buttered plate.
Bake until light brown.
Top and finish
When cool, spread with jam.
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
Add sugar and essence to taste.
Spread the meringue over the jam.
Return to a slow oven (300°F / 150°C) to harden.
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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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake base as it sets when baked.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the crumbly mixture into a stiff, cohesive dough.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff foam that forms the meringue topping, which sets when baked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the base rises and becomes lighter.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the base and, in the meringue, helps the whites stay stable and glossy.
The step that matters
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites need to be whipped until they hold stiff peaks; under-whipped whites will not form a stable meringue and may weep or slump when hardened in the oven.
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, egg):
- Cinnamonthe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, 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.
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