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 ↓
Albany Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make and shape the dough
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, butter, lard, cinnamon, and baking soda dissolved in milk.
Roll out the dough very thin on a floured surface.
Cut into shapes and dip the face of each cake in granulated sugar.
Bake
Place in greased pans and bake slowly until done.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and sets as it bakes.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cakes brown in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
- Lard
- Adds fat that keeps the cakes tender and short in texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity in the dough to lift it and aid browning.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and dissolves the baking soda so it mixes evenly through the dough.
The step that matters
Roll out the dough very thin. Thickness controls how the cakes bake. Dough rolled unevenly bakes unevenly, so thin, even pieces cook through at the same rate and stay crisp rather than raw in the middle.
“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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