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Dessert

Butter Half Cake

A moist cake made with butter, Crisco, buttermilk, and flavored with vanilla and almond.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Butter Half Cake

Oven350°F
Time20–25 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Butter and flour one bundt cake pan or one bread loaf or large brownie pan.

Make the batter

  1. Cream butter, Crisco, and gradually add the sugar, creaming until light and fluffy.

  2. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt.

  4. Add flour mixture alternately with milk and flavorings to creamed mixture, beating after each addition until smooth and light.

  5. Pour batter into cake pan.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake for 20–25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

  2. Cool in pan 10 minutes, remove and finish cooling on rack.

  3. Frost when cool with your favorite frosting or drizzle with confectioner's icing and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

952Calories
45 gProtein
27 gFat
127 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Macenot in our table0

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. Vanilla + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 richness and tender texture through fat and flavor.
Eggs
Provide structure and help bind the batter as they set during baking.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, creamed with fat, traps air for a light crumb.
Cake flour
Provides the starch and gluten structure that sets the cake's tender crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter to make the cake rise.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity that tenderizes the crumb and reacts with baking soda.

The step that matters

Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Alternating dry and liquid additions and beating only until smooth keeps the batter emulsified and limits gluten development, so the cake stays light and tender rather than dense or tough.

Swap the mace

The recipe marks mace as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, sugar, flour, buttermilk, vanilla, almond):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

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