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Dessert

Butter Cake

A simple butter cake with eggs, sugar, flour, and lemon peel.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter 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 ↓

Butter Cake

Oven200 °C
Time35 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Whip butter and sugar in a mixer.

  2. Add eggs.

  3. Whip until sugar is dissolved.

  4. Add flour gradually.

  5. Grate lemon peel and add it to the dough.

Bake

  1. Put the dough in a well greased mold.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven for 35 minutes at 200 °C.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

696Calories
20 gProtein
18 gFat
112 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

  1. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 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

Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps trap air when whipped with butter.
Eggs
Add structure, moisture and richness as the batter sets.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Lemon peel
Adds bright citrus aroma without extra liquid.

The step that matters

Add flour gradually. Mixing in flour slowly and only until combined keeps gluten development low, so the cake stays tender rather than tough.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, sugar, butter):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, sugar, butter. 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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