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Dessert

Buttermilk Lemon Cake

A moist cake made with buttermilk, lemon extract, and butter flavoring.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Buttermilk Lemon Cake

Oven300°F
Time2 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Cream sugar and Crisco together.

  2. Add eggs and buttermilk.

  3. Sift dry ingredients together and add to buttermilk mixture.

Bake

  1. Bake in tube pan for 2 hours at 300°F.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

845Calories
28 gProtein
26 gFat
124 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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. Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 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

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and tang, and its acidity reacts with the soda to help the cake rise.
Soda
Reacts with the buttermilk's acidity to produce gas that lightens the crumb.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
Crisco
Shortening that tenderizes the crumb and carries fat through the batter.
Sugar
Sweetens the cake and helps brown the crust while creaming aerates the batter.

The step that matters

Creaming sugar and Crisco together. Beating sugar into the fat traps air bubbles that help the cake rise and give it a lighter texture. Under-creaming leaves a dense cake, so the mixture should look smooth and fluffy before the other ingredients go in.

Swap the lemon

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, buttermilk, flour, 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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