Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Columbus Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Wash your hands.
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl.
Work in the lard until well combined.
Add the sugar and mix thoroughly.
Make the batter
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until frothy.
Combine the eggs and sweet milk, then add to the flour mixture.
Mix all ingredients to form a stiff dough.
Pour the batter into a buttered tin.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.
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.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and keeps it moist.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown during baking.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic ingredient that helps the leavening work and stabilises the eggs.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Eggs
- Add structure, moisture and richness, and help the cake set as it bakes.
The step that matters
Mix all ingredients to form a stiff dough. Over-mixing after the liquids go in can develop gluten in the flour, making the cake tough. Mix only until the ingredients are just combined, and get the baking soda and cream of tartar evenly distributed so the cake rises evenly.
“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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