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 ↓
Cream 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the thick sour cream and mix well.
In another bowl, combine the flour, saleratus, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Eggs
- Beaten with sugar to trap air, giving the cake structure and a light, fluffy crumb.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and tenderness, and its acidity works with the leavening to help the cake rise.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake once the batter is set by heat.
- Saleratus (baking soda)
- Reacts with acidic ingredients to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with the alkaline leaveners to produce rising gas and stabilize the batter.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender crumb and browning.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.. Leaveners start reacting as soon as they meet liquid, so the batter should go into the pan promptly. Overmixing develops gluten and can make the cake tough and dense.
“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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