Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Sugar Cakes
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 the dough
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the brown sugar and lard.
Mix in the sour cream and egg until well combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and spices.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture until a dough forms.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into desired shapes.
Place the cakes on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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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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Cream + macetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,009 recipes
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cakes brown and stay soft.
- Lard
- Provides fat that tenderizes the dough and gives a crumbly texture.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and acidity that keeps the cakes tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity in the sour cream to leaven the cakes and aid browning.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the dough as its proteins and starch set in the oven.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds richness and structure.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding flour slowly and mixing only until a dough forms keeps the gluten from overdeveloping, which would make the cakes tough rather than tender.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, flour, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, flour, egg. 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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