Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
Soda 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, rub the butter into the flour.
Make the batter
Add the sugar, currants, and mace and nutmeg to the mixture.
Beat the egg well and add it to the dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly.
Dissolve the baking soda in the reserved tablespoon of buttermilk and add it to the batter, mixing well.
Pour the batter into buttered molds.
Bake
Bake for 30 minutes to 1 hour, checking with a skewer; it should come out clean when done.
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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Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
- Butter
- Coats the flour and adds richness and tenderness.
- Caster sugar
- Sweetens the cake and tenderizes its crumb.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the buttermilk's acid to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Buttermilk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture and tang.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda and mixing it in well. Baking soda needs to be fully dissolved and evenly distributed so it reacts with the buttermilk's acid throughout the batter. Pockets of undissolved soda can leave bitter spots and uneven rising.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, currant, egg, buttermilk, nutmeg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Allspicefits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, currant, egg, buttermilk, nutmeg. 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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