Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Batter-Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Combine flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a bowl the night before.
In the morning, add melted butter and beaten eggs to the mixture.
If the batter is sour, dissolve a little baking soda in water and stir it in.
Shape and bake
Knead the dough lightly and ensure it is well-risen before shaping into cakes.
Handle the dough quickly and place it in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) immediately.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they rise and set.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar and batter to release gas, helping the cakes rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that works with the baking soda to produce lift and a tender crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness, and helps browning in the oven.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter as it sets.
- Milk or water
- Hydrates the flour so the starch and proteins form a cohesive batter.
The step that matters
Handle the dough quickly and get it into the oven immediately. Baking soda and cream of tartar begin releasing gas as soon as they are moist, so the lift fades if the dough sits. A hot oven then sets the structure while the cakes are still rising.
“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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