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 ↓
Jelly Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Beat the eggs very light.
Cream the butter in a large bowl.
Add the flour and sugar, mixing well.
Bake and finish
Stir in the tartaric acid and baking soda just before baking.
Bake in thin pans until golden.
Spread jelly on the cake while warm.
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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Flour + sugartop 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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs add structure and moisture, helping the cake set and hold together.
- Flour
- Flour forms the main structure once mixed with liquid and heat.
- Butter
- Creamed butter adds fat, which gives the cake a tender texture and rich flavor.
- Sugar
- Sugar adds sweetness and helps the cake brown and stay tender.
- Tartaric acid
- Tartaric acid reacts with baking soda to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Baking soda reacts with the acid to produce carbon dioxide, which lightens the batter.
The step that matters
Adding the tartaric acid and baking soda just before baking. Tartaric acid and baking soda release carbon dioxide as soon as they meet moisture. If the batter sits too long, the gas escapes before baking, leaving a flatter, denser cake.
“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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