Name: ★ Julia’s Birthday Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar 1/2 -1 cup butter 8 eggs 2 cups flour flavoring cream butter; 1 cup butter 8 eggs 2 cups flour flavoring cream butter; 2 cups flour flavoring cream butter; 8 eggs 2 cups flour flavoring cream butter; 3 medium sized layers; one layer before baking

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

★ Julia’s Birthday Cake

Ingredients

2 cups sugar 1/2 -1 cup butter 8 eggs 2 cups flour flavoring cream butter
1 cup butter 8 eggs 2 cups flour flavoring cream butter
2 cups flour flavoring cream butter
8 eggs 2 cups flour flavoring cream butter
3 medium sized layers
one layer before baking

Directions

Make the batter

Cream butter and sugar.
Add flavoring, a little flour, and beaten yolks; beat well.
Fold in the stiffly-beaten whites.
Sift flour over gradually and fold together as for nut and citron cake.
If possible, set in ice box for an hour before baking.

Bake

Bake in a moderate oven in 3 medium sized layers.
Sift a little sugar over one layer before baking, sometimes, to make a crust for the top.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

735Calories

20 gProtein

23 gFat

109 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 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

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

By Evora Bucknum Perkins. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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 + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Butter: Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
Eggs: Yolks enrich the batter, and whipped whites add lift and structure.
Flour: Forms the cake's structure once mixed into the batter.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps the creamed butter hold air.

The step that matters

Folding in the stiffly-beaten whites. Whites hold air only when whipped stiff, and deflating them by stirring rather than folding lowers the rise and makes the crumb dense. Fold gently and keep the batter airy.

“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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★ Julia’s Birthday Cake