Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Dutch Apple Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Sift the flour, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar together.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Beat the egg and mix it with the milk, then stir this into the dry mixture.
The dough should be soft enough to spread ½ inch thick on a shallow baking pan.
Top and bake
Pare and cut the apples into eighths and lay them in rows on top of the dough, sharp edge down.
Sprinkle the sugar over the apples.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve
Serve hot with butter as a tea cake, or with lemon sauce or cream as a pudding.
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.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the cake once mixed with liquid.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds structure and richness.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour to form a soft, spreadable dough.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar to raise the dough in the oven.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the mixture so the baking soda produces lift.
- Apples
- Provide moisture and tart flavour that contrasts with the sweet topping.
The step that matters
Spreading the dough to the right thickness. The dough must be soft enough to spread about ½ inch thick. If it is stiff or too thick, the centre may stay doughy while the top browns; if it is too thin, it can dry out in the hot oven.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, cream, butter, egg, milk, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cream, butter, egg, milk, sugar. 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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