Why it works: Nutmeg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
A Cheap 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. 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the buttermilk and eggs, mixing well.
Stir in the baking soda, nutmeg, and fruit.
Gradually add the flour, mixing until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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.
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets in the oven.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and mild acidity that tenderises the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust while tenderising the crumb.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour, mixing until just combined. Once flour meets liquid, gluten forms, and overmixing makes the cake tough and dense. Mixing only until combined keeps the crumb tender.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, buttermilk, egg, flour):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, buttermilk, egg, flour. 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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