Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Jelly 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg whites and mix until well combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until smooth.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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 + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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).
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 proteins set during baking.
- Unsalted butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, adding tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and lift to the batter as they set when heated.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, activating the baking soda and stabilizing the egg whites.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, when creamed with butter, helps create a light, airy texture.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour in portions and mixing only until smooth keeps the batter evenly combined without overdeveloping gluten, which would make the cake tough. Overmixing can also deflate the air trapped in the egg whites and creamed butter.
“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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