Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Lemon Currant Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Line the bottom of a cake pan with parchment paper and butter it.
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the beaten egg yolks and a portion of the flour, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites and the remaining flour into the mixture.
Stir in the lemon juice, grated lemon peel, and currants.
Bake
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + curranttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,856 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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
- Creams with sugar to trap air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a light, fluffy creamed base.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Egg whites add lift when whipped, and yolks add richness and structure.
- Currants
- Add chewy pockets of fruit sweetness throughout the cake.
- Lemon peel
- Adds bright aroma from the citrus oils in the zest.
The step that matters
Folding the egg whites into the batter. Whipped whites hold air that gives the cake its lift. Stirring them vigorously deflates the foam, leaving a dense cake, so fold gently until just combined.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, egg, lemon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, egg, lemon. 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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