Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cup Cakes
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the beaten yolks of the eggs and mix well.
Stir in the milk and any desired flavoring.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.
Bake
Spoon the batter into buttered gem pans or drop teaspoonfuls onto flat buttered baking sheets.
If desired, add currants, raisins, citron, or almonds to the batter before baking.
Bake until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.
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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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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).
-
Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and tender texture to the crumb.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and lift; beaten whites fold in air that helps the cupcakes rise.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the cupcake crumb once its gluten sets in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the cream of tartar to produce gas that makes the batter rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with baking soda to leaven the batter and stabilise the whites.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cupcakes and, creamed with butter, helps build a light, airy batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold air only while intact; overmixing or stirring vigorously deflates them, which makes the cupcakes dense instead of light and airy.
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, flour, egg, cream, almond):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, flour, egg, cream, almond. 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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