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 ↓
Plain Layer Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Cream the butter.
Gradually add the sugar.
Beat in the well-beaten egg yolks until extremely light.
Sift the baking powder into the flour after measuring.
Add the baking powder alternately with the milk.
Fold and bake
Whip the egg whites until stiff.
Fold the stiff egg whites into the mixture.
Bake in two layers.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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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).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Adds fat and richness, and creaming it with sugar traps air for a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the creamed butter hold air for a light texture.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks add richness and structure, while whipped whites add lift and airiness.
- Pastry flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together while it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the cake to rise.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter so it bakes evenly.
The step that matters
Fold the stiff egg whites into the mixture. Folding gently keeps the air in the whipped whites. Stirring or deflating them makes the cake dense and less light after baking.
“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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