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Dessert

Spice Cake

A currant and allspice cake baked with buttermilk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Spice Cake

Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Spice Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA sharp oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a sharp oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Mix the batter

  1. Sift together the tartar and baking soda with the flour.

  2. Add the moist sugar, currants, and allspice.

  3. Mix into a batter using buttermilk.

Bake and cut

  1. Pour the batter into a baking pan.

  2. Bake in a sharp oven at 400°F (200°C).

  3. Cut into squares when cold.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Currant + allspicetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,359 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

  4. Flour + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,302 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tartar
Acts with the baking soda to release gas, helping the cake rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that lightens the crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Moist sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay tender.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity, which activates the baking soda.

The step that matters

Bake in a sharp oven at 400°F (200°C). Once the acid and baking soda meet liquid, they start releasing gas right away. A hot oven and prompt baking lock in that rise before it fades, giving a lighter cake.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, allspice, buttermilk):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, allspice, buttermilk. 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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