Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
New Year's Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Beat butter and sugar to a cream.
Add the eggs, well beaten, to the mixture.
Dissolve the soda in the milk, then add the milk to the mixture.
Put the cream tartar into the flour and mix well.
Beat the mixture well.
Stir in the blanched almonds.
Bake
Line a cake tin with well-buttered paper.
Bake in a steady oven.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Almond | 1 almond (1.2g) | 7 |
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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Flour
- Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, and holds air when creamed with sugar.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, creamed with butter, helps trap air for a lighter crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set during baking to give structure.
- Soda
- Reacts with the cream tartar to release carbon dioxide, which lifts the cake.
- Cream tartar
- Provides acidity that reacts with the soda to help the cake rise.
The step that matters
Beat butter and sugar to a cream. Beating softens the butter and sugar crystals cut into it, trapping tiny air bubbles. These bubbles expand in the oven and give the cake its lightness, so under-beating leaves a dense result.
“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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