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Dessert

Wheat Batter Cakes

A batter cake made with sour milk, flour, eggs, butter, soda, salt, lemon juice, olive oil, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Wheat Batter Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Combine one quart of sour milk, one cup of wheat flour, three eggs beaten separately, a tablespoonful of melted butter, and two level teaspoonfuls of soda.

  2. Put the soda in the flour and mix it in well.

  3. Add the flour to the milk.

  4. Combine one-half cup of milk or water, yolks of two well-beaten eggs, one tablespoonful of olive oil, a good pinch of salt, one cupful of flour, and one tablespoonful of lemon juice.

Finish and cook

  1. Beat the white of the eggs to a stiff froth.

  2. Add the stiff froth to the batter.

  3. Add the whites of the eggs just before baking on a griddle.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1113Calories
36 gProtein
48 gFat
136 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid society. [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.

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.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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

Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the soda to make the batter rise and gives a tangy flavor.
Eggs
Yolks enrich and bind the batter, while whipped whites add lightness and rise.
Wheat flour
Provides the structure that holds the cakes together as they cook.
Soda
Reacts with the sour milk's acid to release gas, lifting the batter as it cooks.
Olive oil
Adds fat, which tenderizes the texture and keeps the cakes moist.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, contributing flavor and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Add the stiff froth to the batter. Whipped egg whites hold air that gives the cakes their lift. Folding them in gently, and cooking soon after, keeps that air from deflating and leaving the cakes flat.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, olive, flour, butter, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits about as well
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, olive, flour, butter, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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