Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Apple Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Sift together flour, baking powder, nutmeg, salt, and sugar.
Cut in the shortening with a spatula or mixing spoon.
Add water and stir briskly.
Roll the dough out on a floured board to the thickness of pie crust and line a large shallow pan, or divide the dough for two smaller pans.
Add the apples and bake
Cut apples into eighths and place them in the bottom of the lined pan.
Sprinkle sugar and either cinnamon or nutmeg over the apples to taste.
Dot the top with small pieces of butter evenly spaced.
Bake until the apples are tender.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough as the main dry ingredient.
- Shortening
- Cut into the flour to create a tender, flaky texture in the crust.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas to lift the dough so the crust rises and stays light.
- Apples (in the method)
- Provide moisture and tender fruit that softens during baking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the topping and encourages browning.
The step that matters
Bake until the apples are tender. Apples need enough time in the oven to soften fully; the record gives no temperature or time, so check for tenderness with a knife rather than relying on a set duration.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter. 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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