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 ↓
Boston Cream Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pastry
Boil butter and water together.
Sprinkle flour into the boiling mixture, stirring continuously.
Let the mixture boil for two or three minutes.
When the mixture cools, add eggs and soda, beating well.
Drop the batter onto tins, tablespoon at a time, and bake in a quick oven.
Make the cream
Boil the milk.
Beat eggs, flour, and sugar together and stir into the boiling milk.
Flavor the mixture with vanilla.
Assemble
When the mixture cools, open one side of the cakes and fill with the cream.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
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 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Cake | 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.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
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).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness to the pastry dough.
- Flour
- Provides structure as it sets with the cooked batter and cream.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help set the cream as it thickens.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the cream and adds richness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and adds softness to its texture.
The step that matters
Stirring flour into the boiling butter and water. Flour must be added to boiling liquid while stirring constantly so the starch disperses evenly and gelatinizes without lumps, giving a smooth, workable dough base.
“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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