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 ↓
Feather 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 the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks and mix well.
Stir in the milk and lemon juice.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
Fold and bake
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.
Pour the batter into two greased baking sheets.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and emulsify the batter; whipped whites add lift and a light, airy crumb.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it traps air and adds fat for a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter, it helps create a light texture and adds sweetness and browning.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps form a smooth, tender batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold the air that lifts the cake. Stirring them vigorously deflates the foam and produces a dense crumb, so fold gently until no white streaks remain.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, 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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