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Dessert

Strawberry Shortcake I

A layered cake made with sugar, butter, milk, flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, topped with crushed strawberries and powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Strawberry Shortcake I

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. Cream together sugar and melted butter until light.

  2. Add sweet milk mixed with baking soda.

  3. Gradually add flour and cream of tartar, mixing well.

Bake and assemble

  1. Bake in two layers at 400°F (200°C).

  2. Crush 1 quart of strawberries or raspberries and sweeten with powdered sugar.

  3. Layer the crushed berries between the cake layers.

  4. Top with another quart of berries and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

  5. Do not assemble until serving time.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 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

Butter
Creams with the sugar to add tenderness and a rich flavor to the cake.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
Cream of tartar
Acid that works with the baking soda to help the cake rise and keep its texture tender.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
Egg
Adds structure and richness to the batter as it sets in the oven.
Strawberries
Add sweetness, moisture and fresh acidity to the layers.

The step that matters

Do not assemble until serving time. Sweetened crushed berries release juice over time, which soaks into the cake and makes it soggy. Layering just before serving keeps the cake texture intact.

“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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