Name: Corn Starch Cake
Ingredients: two cups of sugar; two cups of sifted flour; one cup of corn starch sifted in flour; one cup of butter beaten to a cream; one cup of sweet milk; two even teaspoons of baking pow- der sifted in flour; eight eggs beaten to a stiff froth

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Corn Starch Cake

Ingredients

two cups of sugar
two cups of sifted flour
one cup of corn starch sifted in flour
one cup of butter beaten to a cream
one cup of sweet milk
two even teaspoons of baking pow- der sifted in flour
eight eggs beaten to a stiff froth

Directions

Flavor to the taste.
Bake in a slow oven three-quarters of an hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

884Calories

28 gProtein

31 gFat

121 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 6 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
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
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 Des Moines. Plymouth church. [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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,955 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 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: Whipped to a stiff froth, they give the cake its light, airy structure.
Flour: Forms the main structure that holds the cake's crumb together.
Butter: Creamed fat that tenderizes the crumb and adds richness.
Corn starch: Mixed into the flour to soften the crumb, giving a finer, more tender texture.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps keep the crumb moist and tender.

“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.