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 ↓
Sugar Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the sweet milk, salt, baking powder, and beaten eggs; mix well.
Gradually add flour until the dough is manageable.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into shapes with a cutter.
Bake in the preheated oven 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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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the creamed mixture hold air for a tender crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps give the cake a tender texture when creamed with sugar.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding, helping the dough hold its shape.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Sweet milk
- Provides moisture so the dough comes together and stays tender.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the dough is manageable. Adding too much flour at once or too much overall makes the dough stiff and dry, producing a tough cake. Add flour slowly and stop once the dough can be rolled and cut.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, 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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