Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Apple 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 filling
Chop the soaked dried apples and simmer them in molasses for 30 minutes.
Let the mixture cool, then add shortening, eggs, baking soda, flour, and spices. Mix until well combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) 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.
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.
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Apple + flourtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,140 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apple + molassestop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together970 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Apple + eggtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,461 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Dried apples
- Provide fruit pieces and moisture that keep the cake tender and flavorful.
- Molasses
- Adds dark sweetness and moisture, and softens the dried apples as they simmer.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set in the oven.
The step that matters
Let the apple mixture cool before adding the other ingredients. Adding eggs and baking soda to a hot molasses mixture can cook the eggs unevenly and cause the baking soda to react too early, weakening the rise.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, egg, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, 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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