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 ↓
Tip-top Cream Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Combine one cup water, one-half teaspoon baking powder, one-half cup butter, and three eggs, then let the mixture boil.
Stir in one cup flour.
When the mixture cools, add the eggs one at a time.
Prepare the tins
Heat the tins before putting them in the oven.
Make the cream
Prepare the cream for the cake: combine one cup milk, half cup sugar, one egg, and one-half cup flour.
Beat the sugar, flour, and eggs together.
Add the milk while the mixture is boiling.
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 |
| 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 |
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).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
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
- Eggs
- Set the structure as they coagulate, binding and giving the cake its body.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten and starch network that gives the cake its structure.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender crumb.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during heating so the batter rises.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and liquid that hydrates the flour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown.
The step that matters
Add the eggs one at a time once the mixture cools. Eggs added gradually to a cooled mixture blend into a smooth emulsion. Adding them to a very hot mixture, or all at once, can scramble the eggs or cause the batter to separate.
“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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