Why it works: Cinnamon and clove 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 ↓
Spanish Buns
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and cloves in a separate bowl.
Make the batter
Gradually add dry ingredients to wet mixture, alternating with sweet milk.
Mix until just combined.
Pour batter into square tins.
Bake and finish
Bake 25‑30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool and frost as desired.
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.
-
Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the starch and gluten structure that holds the buns together as they bake.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and creaming it with sugar traps air for lift.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps create a light, fluffy texture when creamed with butter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas that makes the buns rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so it reacts with baking soda, producing carbon dioxide for rising.
The step that matters
Mix until just combined. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to develop; overmixing toughens the crumb, so stop as soon as no dry streaks remain.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, cream, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, milk, cinnamon, cream, 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.
You might also like
Cinnamon Rolls71 recipes
Clove Cake53 recipes
Cinnamon Cake42 recipes
White Cake431 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.