Name: Pound Cake
Ingredients: 10 large eggs; 1 pound (2 cups) sugar; 1 pound (4 cups) all-purpose flour; 1 pound (2 cups) unsalted butter, softened; ½ cup brandy; 1 pound (2 cups) currants; Spices of your choice; 2 to 3 ounces candied orange or lemon rind, thinly sliced; 1 ounce caraway seeds (optional)

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 ↓

Pound Cake

Ingredients

10 large eggs
1 pound (2 cups) sugar
1 pound (4 cups) all-purpose flour
1 pound (2 cups) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup brandy
1 pound (2 cups) currants
Spices of your choice
2 to 3 ounces candied orange or lemon rind, thinly sliced
1 ounce caraway seeds (optional)

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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, flour, and butter until well combined.
Gradually add the brandy, currants, and any spices you like.
Fold in the candied orange or lemon rind or caraway seeds if using.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.

Bake

Bake for 1 hour or 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.

Flour + carawaytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,435 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Brandy + curranttop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,057 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Orange + carawaytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together158 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Flour and butter 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

Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Butter: Adds richness and tenderness, and helps trap air when creamed into the batter.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and contributes to browning and a tender crumb.
Currants: Add pockets of concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the cake.

Swap the caraway

The recipe marks caraway as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour, butter, brandy, currant, orange):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Allspicefits about as well
Carawaythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, butter, brandy, currant, orange. 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.