Name: Delicate Cake Pudding-
Ingredients: a pound of flour; a pound of sugar; a pound of butter; one fourth of a pound of flour; one fourth of a pound of butter; 78 cook book of the northwest; twelve eggs; two eggs together

Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Delicate Cake Pudding-

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

Mix flour and sugar together.
Make into a pap with boiling milk.
Stir in the butter and yolks of eggs, and beat well.
Stir in the whites of eggs, well beaten.
Bake in a pan of water.

Make the sauce

Mix butter and flour.
Beat sugar and whites of two eggs together.
Add juice of a lemon.
Pour on boiling water.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

684Calories

19 gProtein

18 gFat

108 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49

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

By Keokuk (Iowa). Westminster Presbyterian church. 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.

Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Flour: Forms the structure of the pap and sets the body of the pudding as it cooks.
Butter: Adds fat for a tender, rich crumb and helps bind the sauce.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps tenderize the pudding.
Eggs: Yolks enrich and bind the batter, while beaten whites add lightness and lift.

The step that matters

Stir in the whites of eggs, well beaten.. Beaten egg whites trap air that expands in the heat, giving the pudding its lightness. Under-beaten whites produce a dense result, and deflating them by stirring too hard wastes that lift.

“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.

White Cake431 recipes

Pound Cake373 recipes

Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes

Spice Cake344 recipes

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Delicate Cake Pudding-