Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
White Mountain 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, rub together the powdered sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy.
Gradually add the beaten egg whites to the sugar and butter mixture, mixing well.
Add lemon flavoring to the mixture.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then fold into the batter.
Bake and assemble
Spread the batter into greased jelly cake pans.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
For the filling, beat 5 egg whites with ½ cup powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue between the layers of the cake.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped egg whites lighten the batter and give the cake an airy, tender crumb.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, butter adds richness and a fine, tender texture.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps trap air for a light texture.
The step that matters
Gradually add the beaten egg whites. Adding the whites slowly and mixing well keeps the batter smooth and stable. Dumping them in at once can deflate the air bubbles and cause the batter to separate.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, 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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