Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Baba Cakes with Apricots
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sponge
Make sponge of one‑half cup flour and dissolved yeast cake; cover and let rise.
Make the batter
Mix remaining flour with butter, two eggs, sugar, and salt.
Beat thoroughly, and add, while beating, remaining eggs, one at a time, then beat until mixture is perfectly smooth.
As soon as sponge has doubled its bulk, combine mixtures, beat thoroughly, and half fill buttered individual tins.
Let rise, and bake in a moderate oven.
Fill and serve
Remove from tins, cut a circular piece from top of each, and scoop out a small quantity of the inside.
Fill centres thus made with Apricot Marmalade, replace circular pieces, and serve with Wine Sauce (see p. 409).
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 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 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
| 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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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 + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the risen crumb together.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help the batter set as it bakes.
- Yeast cake
- Leavens the sponge so the cakes rise before baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps browning in the baked cakes.
The step that matters
Let the sponge double before combining. The yeast sponge must fully double so it can leaven the batter; combining too early gives a dense cake, and the cakes need a final rise before baking to stay light.
“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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