Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Whole Wheat Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Mix salt with whole wheat flour.
Gradually add very cold water, beating quickly until the batter is filled with tiny bubbles.
Cook
Preheat deep pans until very hot and well greased.
Pour batter into pans and brown for about 30 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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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Whole wheat flour
- Provides the main structure of the cakes as it sets during browning.
The step that matters
Beating the batter quickly. Overbeating develops gluten, which makes the cakes tough. Very cold water and brief beating keep the batter light and help it hold its tiny air bubbles.
“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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