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Dessert

Shrewsbury Cakes

A shortbread cookie made with butter, sugar, flour, egg white, and nutmeg.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Shrewsbury Cakes

Oven350°F
Time10 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

  2. Spray or butter the cookie sheets.

Make the batter

  1. Place butter in mixing bowl along with sugar.

  2. Cream until the mixture is fluffy.

  3. Break the egg into the mixture, and stir it in completely.

  4. Add the nutmeg and flour to the mixture, and stir in completely.

Bake and serve

  1. Place teaspoons of the batter onto the cookie sheets about two inches apart.

  2. Place in the oven and bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.

  3. Take the cakes out of the oven; if the cakes have stuck together, use a knife to cut them apart.

  4. Use spatula to place the cakes onto a plate.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

696Calories
20 gProtein
19 gFat
109 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
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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 + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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
Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cakes a tender, rich texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the cakes and helps create a fluffy texture when creamed with butter.
Egg white
Adds structure and moisture, binding the dough together.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.

The step that matters

Creaming the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beating air into the softened butter and sugar creates the light, tender texture of the cakes; under-creaming leaves them dense.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Jalapenofits less well
  4. Capersfits less well

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