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 ↓
Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the batter
Soften the butter in a warm place.
In an earthen dish, cream the softened butter and sugar together.
Add the yolks of the eggs and mix well.
Stir in the milk.
Gradually add the flour and fruit, mixing until combined.
Bake
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) for small cakes and 350°F (175°C) for larger cakes.
To check if a large cake is done, pierce it with a broom straw; it should come out clean.
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 + 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).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps cream with butter to hold air for lift.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich the batter and add structure and moisture as the cake sets.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter for an even, tender bake.
- Flour
- Forms the main structure of the cake as its proteins set in the oven.
- Fruit
- Adds moisture, sweetness and flavor pockets throughout the crumb.
The step that matters
Checking doneness of a large cake. A large cake can look set outside while the centre is still wet. A straw inserted into the middle should come out clean, showing the starch and egg have fully set.
“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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