Name: Tea Cake
Ingredients: 2 cups sugar; ½ cup butter; 3 eggs; ¾ cup sweet cream; 3 cups flour; ¼ teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon cream of tartar; ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Tea Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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

Sift the sugar twice and add it to the butter, then whip until light.
Beat the eggs separately, then add the yolks to the butter and sugar mixture.
Sift the flour with the cream of tartar, add the sweet cream, then sift in the flour lightly.
Add the beaten egg whites.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little warm water, then add it to the mixture along with the grated nutmeg.

Bake

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,920 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

Flour: Forms the main structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, helps give a tender crumb.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and tenderness, and traps air when whipped with sugar.
Eggs: Yolks add richness and moisture, while beaten whites add lift and structure.
Baking soda: Reacts with acid in the batter to release gas, helping the cake rise.
Sweet cream: Adds moisture and richness, softening the texture of the batter.