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 ↓
Dried Apple 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 the apples
Chop the soaked dried apples and simmer them in molasses for 2 hours.
Make the batter
Let the mixture cool, then add brown sugar, butter, sour milk, baking soda, and eggs.
Mix well, then gradually add flour and spices to taste.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) until a toothpick 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.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Apple + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Dried apples
- Provide fruit texture and bulk, softened by simmering in molasses.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and a deep sweetness with mild acidity.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cake brown and stay tender.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the cake's structure as its proteins set during baking.
The step that matters
Let the apple and molasses mixture cool before adding the other ingredients. Adding eggs and butter to a hot mixture can cause them to scramble or melt unevenly, which disrupts the batter's emulsion and texture. Cooling first keeps the batter smooth and well combined.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour. 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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