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 ↓
Jelly Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately warm oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until well combined.
Add the eggs and milk, mixing until smooth.
Gradually add the flour, essence, Cook’s Friend (or cream of tartar), and baking soda, stirring until fully incorporated.
Bake
Pour the batter into two jelly tins.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes 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 + 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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, when beaten with butter, helps trap air for a lighter crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and creams with sugar to hold air.
- Eggs
- Provide structure as they set and add moisture and richness to the crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the cake as its proteins set during baking.
- Cook’s friend
- Acts with baking soda to produce carbon dioxide, helping the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with an acid to release carbon dioxide, helping the cake rise and lighten.
The step that matters
Gradually add the flour and leavening. Adding flour gradually and stirring only until incorporated keeps the batter smooth and limits gluten development, which would otherwise make the cake tough. Baking soda must be evenly mixed in so it reacts consistently and the cake rises evenly.
“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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