Name: Plain Cake
Ingredients: 4 cups all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; ½ cup good-quality dripping (clarified beef fat); 1 cup moist sugar; 3 eggs; 1 cup milk; 4 oz. caraway seeds; 4 oz. candied peel, finely chopped

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 ↓

Plain 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

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, combine the flour and baking powder.
Rub in the clarified dripping until well mixed.
Add the sugar, caraway seeds, and candied peel.

Make and bake the cake

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk.
Pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Butter a cake tin and pour in the batter.
Bake for 1 to 2 hours, or until a toothpick 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).
Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,759 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

All-purpose flour: Provides the main structure of the cake as its starch sets during baking.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and become light.
Clarified dripping: Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour through the cake.
Moist sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay soft.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set during baking.
Milk: Adds moisture and hydrates the flour so the batter forms a cohesive mix.