Why it works: Butter and flour 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 ↓
Cream Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the choux batter
Pour butter and water into a saucepan and place on the front of the range.
When the mixture reaches boiling point, add the flour all at once and stir vigorously.
Remove from heat as soon as the mixture is mixed, then add the eggs one at a time, beating between additions until thoroughly mixed.
Shape and bake
Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a buttered sheet, spacing them one and a half inches apart, shaping each into a nearly circular mound.
Bake for thirty minutes in a moderate oven.
Test a cake by removing it from the oven; if it does not fall, the others are cooked.
Fill
With a sharp knife, cut a slit in each cake large enough to admit cream filling.
Add lemon extract to the cream filling.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| 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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 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 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
- Melts into the boiling water to provide fat and richness in the dough.
- Flour
- Its starch gelatinizes with the hot liquid to form a paste that gives the cakes structure.
- Eggs
- Add moisture and set during baking, giving the cakes their hollow, airy structure.
The step that matters
Beating in the eggs. Eggs must be added one at a time and fully incorporated so the batter becomes smooth and glossy. Too much egg at once, or unmixed egg, makes the dough too loose to hold its shape and rise properly.
“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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