Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Angel Cake, Mock
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Sift one cup flour, one cup sugar, one-fourth saltspoon salt, and three level teaspoons of baking powder.
Add one cup milk heated to boiling point and one teaspoon vanilla to the sifted mixture.
Beat thoroughly, then fold in the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs.
Bake and cool
Bake in an ungreased pan in a moderate oven for about forty minutes.
Cool when cold.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Vanilla | 1 tsp extract (4ml) | 12 |
| Salt | 1 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.
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.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Tea + vanillatop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together170 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + teatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together738 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Whipped whites trap air, giving the cake its light, airy structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter during baking, helping the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps give it a fine, tender crumb.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and liquid that hydrates the flour and sets with the eggs.
The step that matters
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Folding gently preserves the air whipped into the whites. Stirring or deflating them makes the batter dense and reduces the cake's rise.
“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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