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 ↓
Hickory Nut 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 together the butter, sugar, and eggs until smooth.
Dissolve the baking soda and cream of tartar in the cold milk, then add to the mixture.
Crack the hickory nuts and add the nutmeats and flour to the batter.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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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Flour + nutstop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,180 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
- Adds richness and tenderness, and helps the cake hold moisture and flavor.
- Eggs
- Provide structure and binding, setting the crumb as the cake bakes.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure that holds the cake and nuts together.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so baking soda reacts properly, helping the cake rise and stay light.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas, leavening the cake.
- Hickory nuts
- Add nutty flavor and texture to the crumb.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda and cream of tartar in the cold milk. Baking soda and cream of tartar must be fully dissolved so they react evenly through the batter. Uneven dissolving leaves pockets of soda that can cause bitter spots or uneven rising.
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, cream, milk):
- Almondfits better
- Pistachiofits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, cream, milk. 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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