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 ↓
Cream Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Rub the butter into the flour until well combined.
Mix in the sugar and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the cream, eggs, and orange peel.
Dissolve the carbonate of soda in a little water and add it to the mixture.
Combine all ingredients thoroughly.
Bake and cool
Butter the inside of the molds and fill them two-thirds full.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Turn the cakes out of the molds and cool them on their sides on a sieve.
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 + 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).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Fresh butter
- Adds richness and tenderness by coating flour particles and carrying fat into the crumb.
- Fine flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Sifted sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and keep a soft crumb.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and acidity, tenderizing the crumb and activating the soda.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help set the structure while adding moisture.
- Carbonate of soda
- Reacts with the sour cream's acidity to release gas, helping the cake rise.
The step that matters
Dissolving the carbonate of soda. Soda must be fully dissolved and mixed in evenly, or pockets of alkali can leave soapy, bitter spots and uneven rising, since it only lifts the batter when it meets acid.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sugar, cream, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, cream, egg. 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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