Name: American Layer Cake
Ingredients: 2 teaspoonfuls of baking h cupful of butter powder 2 eggs flavour; 1 cupful sweet milk 1 cupful of castor sugar 2 teaspoonfuls of baking h cupf; 1 cupful of castor sugar 2 teaspoonfuls of baking h cupful of butter powder; 2 eggs flavour

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 ↓

American Layer Cake

Ingredients

2 teaspoonfuls of baking h cupful of butter powder 2 eggs flavour
1 cupful sweet milk 1 cupful of castor sugar 2 teaspoonfuls of baking h cupf
1 cupful of castor sugar 2 teaspoonfuls of baking h cupful of butter powder
2 eggs flavour

Directions

Make the batter

Combine 1 cup of flour and 1 cupful of sweet milk.
Add 1 cupful of castor sugar and 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder.
Add 1 cupful of butter powder.
Add 2 eggs and flavor to taste.
Cream butter and sugar.
Beat eggs and add them and the flour alternately.
Add the flavoring and baking powder.

Bake and finish

Pour into buttered tins.
Cook in a moderate oven.
Add walnut filling.
Ice and decorate the top with walnuts.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

378Calories

14 gProtein

25 gFat

25 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49

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

By Hamilton, Margaret. 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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 (in the method): Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the cake its structure.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise and become light.
Butter: Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
Castor sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps tenderise the crumb when creamed with butter.
Sweet milk: Adds moisture that hydrates the flour to form the batter.