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 ↓
Banana 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).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the beaten eggs and milk, mixing well.
In another bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, and baking powder.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until smooth. Stir in the banana flavoring.
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan.
Bake and finish
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once cooled, layer the cake with sliced bananas.
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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Milk + bananatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,470 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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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).
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
- Bind the batter and add structure as the cake sets.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and keep moisture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps form a smooth batter.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Adding dry ingredients gradually and stirring until smooth keeps the batter evenly combined. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten, which can make the cake tough.
Swap the banana
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, milk, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Bananathe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, 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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