Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
White 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Set aside ½ cup of sugar to stir with the egg whites.
Sift the flour 4 times, reserving 1 cup to sift with the baking powder.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and remaining sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and 2 cups of flour to the creamed mixture and beat thoroughly.
Fold in the reserved flour and baking powder mixture.
Gently fold in the beaten egg whites mixed with the reserved sugar.
Add flavoring to taste and mix until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake until golden.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Whipped whites trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds fat for a tender crumb.
- Flour
- Its proteins set during baking to form the cake's structure.
- Sugar
- Helps the cake brown and adds sweetness while aiding a tender texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and liquid so the flour hydrates into a batter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, making the cake rise and become light.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Egg whites hold the air that makes the cake rise. Stirring them vigorously or folding them in too roughly deflates the foam, leaving a dense cake. Fold gently, just until no white streaks remain.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, milk, egg):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, milk, egg. 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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