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Dessert

Hickory-nut Cake

A sweet cake made with brown sugar, butter, sweet milk, molasses, flour, spices, hickory nuts, egg whites, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Hickory-nut Cake

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 ↓

Hickory-nut 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 batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a large bowl, cream together the brown sugar and butter.

  3. Add the sweet milk and Orleans molasses, mixing well.

  4. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.

  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until combined.

  6. Fold in the beaten egg whites and hickory-nut meats, and add vanilla extract.

Layer and bake

  1. Pour some of the batter into a greased pan, then alternate with the remaining batter until all is used.

  2. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 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 as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Egg whites
Add structure and lift when beaten and folded into the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the heat, helping the cake rise.
Orleans molasses
Adds moisture, deep flavour and a darker colour.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Beaten egg whites hold air that gives the cake lift. Folding gently keeps that air in; vigorous stirring deflates the foam and leaves a denser cake.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, molasses, flour, cinnamon, clove):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Allspicethe original
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, molasses, flour, cinnamon, clove. 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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