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 ↓
Orange Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar until well mixed.
Add the egg yolks and beat until very light.
Sift the baking powder, corn starch, and flour together twice.
Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the butter mixture.
Stir in the orange juice.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + orangetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 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
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and structure, helping the batter bind and set as it bakes.
- Butter or shortening
- Adds fat for tenderness and a rich, soft crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the cake as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps brown the crust while tenderising the crumb.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour so the batter flows and bakes evenly.
The step that matters
Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk. Adding flour and liquid in alternating portions keeps the batter smooth and emulsified. Adding it all at once can overwork the flour and make the cake dense or tough.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, flour, milk, corn, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, flour, milk, corn, sugar. 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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