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Dessert

Flannel Cakes

Flannel cakes are a batter-based pancake-like dish made with flour, buttermilk, milk, eggs, soda, butter, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Flannel Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. Beat two eggs lightly.

  2. Add 1 cup of milk.

  3. Add 1 cup of flour.

  4. Add ½ cup of buttermilk and ¼ teaspoon soda.

Cook on the griddle

  1. Bake on hot greased griddle.

Make a second batter

  1. Make a batter of 1 qt flour, 1 qt milk, 3 eggs well beaten, and a wine glass of yeast.

  2. Add a little salt and let it rise.

  3. Cut into the batter a large spoonful of butter.

Bake in muffin rings

  1. Bake in muffin rings.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

833Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). 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.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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 cakes together as they cook.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
Buttermilk
Adds tang and moisture, and its acidity reacts with the soda.
Soda
Reacts with the acid in buttermilk to release gas that lifts the batter.
Milk
Adds moisture and loosens the batter to a pourable consistency.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the batter and enriches its flavour.

The step that matters

Bake on hot greased griddle. A hot, well-greased surface sets the outside of each cake quickly so it holds its shape and browns evenly, rather than spreading or sticking.

“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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