Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mix in the ground cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and cold coffee.
Sift the baking powder with the flour and gradually add it to the mixture.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 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).
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
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps create a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps trap air when creamed with butter.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and moisture, and help bind the batter.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as it sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that makes the cake rise and become light.
- Cold boiled coffee
- Adds moisture and depth of flavor to the spiced batter.
The step that matters
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beating each egg fully into the creamed butter and sugar keeps the emulsion stable, so the batter holds air and bakes with an even, tender texture rather than curdling or becoming dense.
Swap the allspice
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, clove, cinnamon, coffee, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Allspicethe original
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, clove, cinnamon, coffee, flour. 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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