Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Velvet 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 batter
Cream together the butter and sugar.
Dissolve the baking soda in the cold water and pour it into the butter and sugar mixture.
Sift in the cream of tartar and flour, then mix well.
Beat the eggs, separating the yolks and whites, then combine them after beating for three minutes.
Season to taste and mix with the batter.
Bake
Beat the batter well and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for half an hour.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps hold air when creamed with butter.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Add structure, moisture and richness to the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that lightens the batter.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so the baking soda can react and help it rise.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in the cold water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and spread evenly through the batter, or pockets of it will react unevenly, causing bitter spots and uneven rising. Mixing it with the acidic cream of tartar in the batter starts the leavening reaction, so the batter should be baked promptly after mixing.
“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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