Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Short Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
In a bowl, combine the flour and make a well in the center.
Add the sour milk, dissolved baking soda, salt, and softened butter.
Beat thoroughly before mixing in all the flour.
Stir until combined, then place on a floured board and form into a smooth mass.
Shape and bake
Roll out to about ⅓ inch thick, cut into small cakes, prick with a fork, and bake at 400°F (200°C).
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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 dough that holds the cakes together as they bake.
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity, tenderising the crumb and reacting with the baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to produce gas, helping the cakes rise.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender, rich texture and flavour.
The step that matters
Beat thoroughly before mixing in all the flour. Beating the wet ingredients thoroughly distributes the baking soda and fat evenly, so the cakes rise uniformly instead of in patches.
“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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