Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon 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 ↓
To Make a Plain 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 the dough
Warm the milk and mix in the yeast.
Beat the eggs and add them to the yeast and milk mixture.
Dry the currants by placing them before the fire.
Rub the dripping into the flour, then mix in the sugar, grated nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Combine the flour mixture with the milk, yeast, and egg mixture.
If the milk is insufficient, add more.
Rise and bake
Set the mixture before the fire to rise.
Once risen, work the dough well and fold in the currants.
Butter a cake tin and pour in the batter.
Bake for 2 hours at 350°F (175°C).
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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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 main structure of the cake as its gluten network sets during baking.
- Dripping or unsalted butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown during baking.
- Warm milk
- Provides the liquid that hydrates the flour and activates the yeast.
- German yeast
- Produces gas as it ferments, lifting the dough as it rises.
- Eggs
- Add moisture and richness and help bind the batter.
The step that matters
Setting the dough to rise. Yeast needs warmth and time to ferment; if the dough is too cool it rises slowly, and if it is over-proved the gluten weakens and the cake can collapse in the oven.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, milk, egg, nutmeg, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, milk, egg, nutmeg, cinnamon. 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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