Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Soda-cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Rub the butter into the flour, add the currants and sugar, and mix these ingredients well together.
Whisk the eggs well, stir them into the flour with the milk, in which the soda should be previously dissolved, and beat the whole up together with a wooden spoon or beater.
Bake and check
Divide the dough into two pieces, put them into buttered moulds or cake-tins, and bake in a moderate oven for nearly an hour.
Ensure the mixture is not allowed to stand after the soda is added; bake immediately.
Check that the cakes are fully baked by thrusting a knife into the middle; if the blade looks bright when withdrawn, they are done.
If the tops acquire too much colour before the inside is sufficiently baked, cover them with a piece of clean white paper to prevent burning.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 4 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| 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.
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake sets.
- Flour (in the method)
- Forms the main structure of the cake once baked.
- Carbonate of soda
- Reacts with the liquid to produce gas that lifts the cake, so it must be baked straight away.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and dissolves the soda, adding moisture to the dough.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
The step that matters
Bake immediately after adding the soda. Carbonate of soda begins releasing gas as soon as it meets the liquid. If the mixture stands, that gas escapes before the oven sets the structure, so the cakes rise less and turn out denser.
“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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