Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. 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. 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.
Make the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg whites and mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the cream of tartar.
Dissolve the baking soda in the tepid water and set aside.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the buttermilk.
Just before the last of the flour is added, pour in the dissolved baking soda and mix until combined.
Add your chosen flavoring and stir gently.
Bake
Pour the batter into prepared cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or 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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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
- Egg whites add structure and help the cake set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Creaming butter with sugar traps air and gives a tender, rich crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps create a light texture.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity, which reacts with the baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the buttermilk's acid to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda just before the last flour. Baking soda starts reacting as soon as it meets the acidic batter, so it should be added late and mixed only until combined. Overmixing after that develops gluten, toughening the crumb and wasting lift.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, flour, buttermilk, cream):
- Raisinfits about as well
- Vanillathe original
- Lemonfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, flour, buttermilk, cream. 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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