Why it works: Flour and caraway match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,435 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Seed Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Rub the clarified dripping into the flour until no lumps remain.
Add the sugar and caraway seeds, mixing well with a wooden spoon.
In a cup, beat the egg and mix it with the milk.
Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until a stiff paste forms.
Bake and cool
Grease a cake tin with dripping.
Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour.
Check if the cake is done by inserting a clean knife; it should come out clean.
Turn the cake out of the tin and let it cool on its side.
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.
-
Flour + carawaytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,435 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the cake as the base that holds the batter together.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes lighter.
- Clarified dripping
- Rubbed into the flour to add fat, giving a tender, short crumb.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and helps form the batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
The step that matters
Checking doneness with a clean knife. A dense, stiff batter can look set on top while the centre is still wet. A knife inserted into the middle should come out clean, showing the starches and egg have fully set before cooling.
Swap the caraway
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, milk, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Carawaythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, milk, 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
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 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.