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 ↓
Real Shrewsbury Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
In a large bowl, combine the flour, butter, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and eggs.
Mix the ingredients together using your hands until a light paste forms.
Roll out the paste until it is thin enough for an ounce of it to make a cake the size of a breakfast cup.
Cut the rolled paste into shapes and place them on buttered baking sheets.
Bake and finish
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Mark the tops of the cakes with a large-toothed comb.
Bake the cakes in the oven, being careful not to let them burn.
Prick the cakes with a bodkin as they rise in the oven.
Remove the cakes from the oven when they are just hard, being cautious as they are very brittle.
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the paste, setting the cakes as they bake.
- Unsalted butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, giving the cakes a crumbly texture.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cakes and dissolves easily into the paste for a fine crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the paste together and add moisture and structure.
The step that matters
Removing the cakes at the right moment. Shrewsbury cakes are very brittle when cooled, and they keep firming as they cool. Pulling them when they are just hard, rather than deeply browned, keeps them from becoming dry and burnt-tasting, while still letting them set enough to hold their shape.
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg):
- Cinnamonthe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, 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.
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