Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the berries
Wash the strawberries quickly in a colander an hour before using; if they are not perfectly ripe, sprinkle a little sugar over them to start the juice.
Make and bake the cake
Mix the cake as for cream biscuits, sifting the baking soda and cream of tartar several times through the flour.
Roll the dough to a thickness of ½ inch, prick well with a fork, and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 40 minutes.
When done, remove from the oven and lean edgewise to cool until you can handle it comfortably.
Split and serve
Split the cake in halves by first dividing the crust with a knife, then using a fork to separate the cake as nearly through the middle as possible.
Lay each half on a plate, crust downward, and put on the prepared strawberries; then lay one half on top of the other and let it stand for 30 minutes before serving.
Serve with a bowl of extra berries on the side, as no other sauce is needed.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Graham flour
- Forms the structure of the cake and gives it a sturdy, slightly nutty crumb.
- Sweet cream
- Adds fat and moisture, making the dough tender and rich.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to produce gas, helping the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic ingredient that reacts with baking soda to leaven the dough.
- Strawberries
- Provide fresh fruit flavor and juice that softens the cake layers.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps with browning in the crust.
The step that matters
Splitting the cake while warm-cool. The cake must be cooled enough to handle but split carefully; forcing a cut through a crumbly, still-fragile crumb can tear it, so separating along the middle with a fork keeps the halves even.
“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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