Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Jelly Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add half of the milk and mix well.
Sift together the flour and baking powder, then add half to the mixture.
Mix in the remaining milk, then add the rest of the flour.
Beat the egg until light and fold it into the batter.
Bake and assemble
Fill three small jelly tins (5 inches in diameter) with the batter.
Bake immediately until done.
Turn the cakes out while warm, bottom side up, onto a plate.
Spread jelly on the first layer.
Place the second cake on top, bottom side up.
Spread jelly on the second cake.
Place the third cake on top, top side up.
Sprinkle powdered sugar on top.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + grapetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,682 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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.
- Sugar
- Creams with butter for structure and adds sweetness and gentle browning.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cakes bake.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cakes rise and become light.
- Egg
- Adds structure and richness, and helps bind the batter.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, pourable batter.
The step that matters
Bake immediately until done. Baking powder starts releasing gas as soon as it is wet, so delaying the bake lets some of the rising power escape and can leave the layers flatter and denser.
Swap the grape
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Grapethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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