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 ↓
Cup 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).
Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, mix the sour cream with 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
In another bowl, combine the flour, remaining baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Make the batter
Add the sour cream mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, mixing well.
Gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until just combined.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and add the lemon or vanilla extract.
Bake
Pour the batter into greased cake pans 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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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).
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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and, creamed with butter, traps air for a light crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and creamed with sugar helps give a tender texture.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the cake's shape as it bakes.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and tang, and its acidity activates the baking soda for rising.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter as it sets.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour cream to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which can make the cupcakes tough and dense. Stir only until no dry flour remains.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, cream, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, cream, 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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