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 ↓
Batter Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Combine the white Indian meal, white flour, milk, yeast, and salt in a bowl and mix well.
Cover the bowl and let the batter sit overnight.
Finish and cook
Dissolve the baking soda in a little water, then add it to the batter along with the melted butter.
Beat the mixture thoroughly and let it rise for 15 minutes.
Preheat a griddle and pour the batter onto it to cook.
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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- White indian meal
- Provides the coarse, grainy body that gives the cakes their texture.
- White flour
- Adds structure so the batter holds together on the griddle.
- Yeast
- Ferments the batter, producing gas that makes the cakes light and airy.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the fermented batter to lift the cakes and aid browning.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour and helps the cakes brown on the griddle.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flours and yeast, giving the batter its moisture and softness.
The step that matters
Letting the batter sit overnight. The yeast needs a long, slow fermentation to develop flavour and gas. Rushing it leaves the batter dense and under-risen, so the cakes come out heavy.
“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.
More batter cakes recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.