Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Spice Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the brown sugar and butter.
Add the sour cream and mix well.
Beat in the eggs, reserving the whites of 2 for icing.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
Bake and finish
Pour the batter into prepared cake pans and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool, then layer the cakes and frost with the reserved egg whites icing.
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.
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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 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
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay tender.
- Butter
- Creamed with the sugar to trap air and add richness and tender texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture, tenderness, and a slight acidity to the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.. Overmixing after the flour goes in develops gluten, which can make the cake tough and dense. Mixing only until combined keeps the crumb tender.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, butter, flour, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg):
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Turmericfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, butter, flour, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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