Name: Geneva Griddle Cakes
Ingredients: 4 oz sugar; 4 eggs; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 pint milk; 1½ teaspoons baking powder; butter (for greasing); raspberry jam; powdered sugar (for dusting)

Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Geneva Griddle Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

In a bowl, mix sugar, eggs, salt, milk, and baking powder until smooth.
Preheat a griddle over medium‑high heat and grease it with butter.

Cook the cakes

Pour batter onto the griddle and cook until browned on one side, then flip and brown the other side.

Layer and bake

Transfer browned cakes to a buttered baking tin and spread raspberry jam over each layer.
Repeat the process until you have used jam twice, then bake another batch to cover the cakes.
Dust the top with powdered sugar and place in a 350°F (175°C) oven to finish baking.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Milk + raspberrytop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,014 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + raspberrytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,308 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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 set the structure of the cakes as they cook.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, making the cakes rise and turn light.
Sugar: Sweetens the batter and helps the cakes brown on the griddle.
Milk: Provides the liquid that hydrates the batter and keeps the cakes moist.
Raspberry jam: Adds sweetness and fruit flavor between the layers, and moisture to the cakes.

The step that matters

Cooking the first side on the griddle. If the griddle is too hot, the outside browns and burns before the batter in the center sets, leaving the cakes raw inside. Medium‑high heat lets the surface brown evenly while the middle cooks through before the flip.