Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Washington Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cake layers
Whisk together six eggs, two cups sugar, one and one half cups flour, one teaspoon baking powder, and lemon flavor. Pour into jelly pans and bake until set.
Let the batter cool completely.
Make the cream and assemble
When the batter is cold, place it between the cream made of one pint of milk.
While boiling, add one cup sugar, a piece of butter the size of an egg, half a cup flour, yolks of three eggs, and vanilla.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites stiffly, then add three tablespoonfuls powdered sugar.
Put the mixture over the top and brown in the oven.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| 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.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Build the structure of the cake layers and enrich the cream and meringue.
- Flour
- Provides structure to the cake layers and thickens the cream.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the cake layers a tender crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that helps the cake layers rise.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the cream filling and adds moisture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the cream filling.
The step that matters
Let the batter cool completely. Spreading cream on warm cake layers melts the filling and makes the layers soggy and hard to stack. Cooling firms the crumb so it holds the cream cleanly.
“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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