Name: Small Nut Cakes
Ingredients: one pound of butter; one-half cupfuls of sugar; one-half teaspoonfuls of four eggs; a piece of nut on top; three eupfuls of dour

Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Small Nut Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Cream the butter until smooth.
Gradually add the sugar, continuing to cream.
Beat the eggs until very creamy.
Sift the baking powder with the flour.
Add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar mixture.
Add the flour and brandy, mixing well.

Shape and bake

Shape the batter into small balls.
Place a piece of walnut on top of each ball.
Bake in a hot oven until cooked.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

229Calories

6 gProtein

17 gFat

13 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Nut	not in our table	0

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

By Tracy, Suzanne. [from old catalog]. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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. See the original page.

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.

Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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 and give the cakes a tender, rich crumb.
Sugar: Creamed with butter for sweetness and to help build a light, aerated texture.
Eggs: Beaten and folded into the batter to add structure and richness as the cakes set.
Flour (in the method): Forms the main structure of the cakes as the batter sets in the oven.

“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.