Why it works: Flour and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Banbury Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the yolks of the eggs and mix well.
Stir in the flour, candied peel, currants, and spices.
Assemble and bake
Shape the puff pastry into ovals.
Place a portion of the mixture on half of the pastry rounds.
Brush the edges with egg white.
Cover with the other half and press together.
Brush the tops with beaten egg white.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for about 30 minutes.
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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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Currant + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,099 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Puff pastry
- Forms a flaky, crisp shell that puffs and browns around the filling.
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to add richness and a tender texture to the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the tops brown when sprinkled on before baking.
- Flour
- Thickens the filling so it holds its shape rather than running out of the pastry.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and bind the filling; egg white glaze seals edges and browns the tops.
- Currants
- Provide chewy pockets of sweetness and fruitiness throughout the filling.
The step that matters
Sealing the edges. If the edges are not brushed with egg white and pressed firmly together, the pastry may not bond and the filling can leak out during baking. Egg white acts as a glue and also helps the sealed edges brown.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, cinnamon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, cinnamon. 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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