Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Clove 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.
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar.
Add the chopped raisins, milk, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and flour. Mix until well combined.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Make and add the icing
For the icing, combine 1 cup brown sugar, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and scant 1 cup milk in a saucepan.
Boil together until the syrup can thread.
Stir until almost cold and spread on the cake.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to give the cake a tender, rich crumb and flavor.
- Brown sugar
- Sweetens the cake and adds moisture and caramel notes to the crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the batter's acidity to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Chopped raisins
- Add moisture, chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Stir the icing until almost cold. Sugar syrup boiled to the threading stage crystallizes as it cools. Stirring while it cools makes it grainy and thick enough to spread, so stop once it is nearly cold and spread it quickly.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, raisin, sugar, milk, cinnamon, flour, nutmeg):
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, raisin, sugar, milk, cinnamon, flour, 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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