Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Take one quart of sifted flour and stir thoroughly into it half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, also one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, a tablespoonful of butter, one tablespoonful of salt, and about a coffee-cupful of water.
Mix with a knife, avoiding hands except for rolling.
Roll it smoothly out, making two round cakes of about half an inch in thickness.
Bake
Bake in a quick oven.
Assemble and serve
When done, split the cakes open, put the slices in a large dish, butter them, cover each slice with berries and sugar, having the top layer of berries.
Pour cream over all.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 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 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 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.
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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 that holds the shortcake together as it bakes.
- Carbonate of soda
- Reacts with the acid in the dough to release gas that lifts the cakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides the acid that reacts with the soda, helping the cakes rise and stay light.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness to the cakes and flavour to the split slices.
The step that matters
Mix with a knife, avoiding hands except for rolling. Warm hands melt the butter and overworking the dough develops gluten, which makes the cakes tough instead of tender. Light, quick handling keeps the butter in small pieces that create a flaky, tender crumb.
“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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