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 ↓
Crumb Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine flour, powdered sugar, butter and lard mixture, and salt.
Rub the mixture together until crumbly.
Set aside a small cup of crumbs.
To the remaining mixture, add baking powder and grated nutmeg, and stir the mixture well.
Add the beaten eggs and milk, then beat the batter until smooth.
Bake
Pour the batter into two cake tins.
Sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the batter.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden.
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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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure of the cake as its starch sets during baking.
- Butter and lard mixed
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and helps make the crumbly topping.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise.
- Milk
- Adds moisture to the batter and helps form a smooth, pourable consistency.
The step that matters
Beat the batter until smooth. Thorough mixing of the eggs and milk into the flour evenly distributes the leavening and gives a smooth, uniform crumb. Overmixing after the flour is fully incorporated can develop gluten and make the cake tough.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, egg, milk):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, egg, milk. 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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