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 ↓
Maple Cream 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.
Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the eggs and mix well.
In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder, then gradually add to the wet mixture.
Divide the batter into two greased cake tins and bake until golden.
Make the frosting
For the frosting, boil the maple sugar and cream until thick.
Remove from heat and beat until creamy. Add the egg white and continue beating until thick.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add structure as they set during baking.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure once its proteins set in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavor to the crumb.
- Maple sugar
- Sweetens the frosting and thickens to a creamy texture when boiled with cream.
- Egg white
- Whipped into the frosting to add airy volume and lightness.
The step that matters
Boiling the maple sugar and cream until thick. Sugar syrups thicken as water evaporates and temperature rises. Removing the pan too early leaves the frosting runny, while overcooking can make it grainy or hard once cooled.
“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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