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 ↓
A Delicious Pound Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream together the sugar and butter for about 20 minutes.
Beat the eggs until perfectly smooth.
Add the eggs to the creamed mixture.
Knead the mixture sharply for 10 minutes.
Add the flour, brandy, mace, and rosewater, then mix for another 5 minutes.
Pour the batter into a greased pan.
Bake and finish
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven.
Let the cake cool.
Ice it with boiled icing.
Let the cake sit for a day or two before serving.
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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Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,127 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Egg + flourtop 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).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake sets in the oven.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter, it helps trap air and adds sweetness and browning.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake's crumb once the proteins set in the oven.
- Brandy
- Adds liquid and aroma to the batter.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs to the creamed mixture. Eggs added too quickly or when cold can cause the batter to curdle and lose air. Adding them gradually, at room temperature, keeps the emulsion stable so the cake rises evenly and has a fine crumb.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, lemon, egg, flour, brandy):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, lemon, egg, flour, brandy. 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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