Name: Date Torte
Ingredients: 1 cup sliced dates; 2-3 cups sliced walnut meats; 1 cup granulated sugar; ½ cup sweet milk; ½ cup all-purpose flour; 3 eggs; ½ teaspoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Dates and walnut work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 302 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Date Torte

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a bowl, combine sliced dates, walnut meats, sugar, sweet milk, flour, eggs, baking soda, and salt.
Mix until well combined.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.

Bake and serve

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Serve with whipped cream.

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.

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.

Dates + walnuttop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together302 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Walnut + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,873 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,035 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Milk and flour 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

Eggs: Bind the batter and provide structure as the torte sets in the oven.
All-purpose flour: Forms the light structure that holds the dates and walnuts together.
Granulated sugar: Adds sweetness and helps keep the torte moist and tender.
Baking soda: Reacts with the batter to help it rise and lighten.
Walnut meats: Add crunch and a rich, nutty flavor that contrasts with the soft crumb.
Sliced dates: Add moisture and natural sweetness, giving a chewy texture.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, meat, sugar, milk, flour, egg):

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, meat, sugar, milk, flour, 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.