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 ↓
Date Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make and layer the cake
In a bowl, mix the flour, powdered oatmeal, butter or pork gravy, brown sugar, sour milk, and baking soda until combined.
Divide the mixture in half.
Roll out one half and spread it on the bottom of a pan.
Spread the stewed dates over the rolled-out mixture.
Roll out the remaining half and place it over the dates.
Bake
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + datestop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together470 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Flour and butter 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the layers together after baking.
- Powdered oatmeal
- Adds body and a tender, slightly crumbly texture to the dough.
- Butter or pork gravy
- Supplies fat, which tenderizes the crumb and adds richness and moisture.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown during baking.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the cake rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lightens the dough.
The step that matters
Spread the dough into even layers. Dividing the dough evenly and rolling each half to a similar thickness helps the layers bake at the same rate, so the bottom layer is not doughy while the top browns.
Swap the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, milk. 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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