Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Two-egg 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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the baking powder with the flour.
Make the batter
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Gradually stir in half of the flour mixture and half of the milk.
Add the vanilla extract and mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into two greased cake pans.
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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Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Adds fat and richness, and helps create a tender crumb when creamed with sugar.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter to make the cake rise.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a tender texture when creamed with butter.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Egg whites
- Trap air when beaten, adding lift and a light, airy structure.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Stiffly beaten whites hold air that gives lift. Stirring them vigorously knocks that air out, so the cake bakes up denser. Fold gently, just until no white streaks remain.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, egg, flour. 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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