Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Butter 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).
Grease a cake tin.
Flour a cake tin.
Make the batter
In a bowl, cream the butter with a wooden spoon.
Gradually add the sugar while stirring until creamy.
Sift the flour and baking powder together.
Add ⅓ cup of milk to the creamed butter.
Mix in half of the sifted flour. Beat thoroughly.
Add the remaining milk and flour. Beat again.
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Add vanilla.
Bake and serve
Spread the mixture in the prepared tin, pushing it away from the middle.
Bake for 10 minutes or until done.
Cool.
Cut in halves.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cake a tender, rich crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure that holds the cake together as it bakes.
- Egg whites
- Whipped and folded in to add lightness and help the cake rise.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking, helping the cake rise and become airy.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a creamy, aerated batter when beaten with butter.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form a smooth batter.
The step that matters
Folding in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air bubbles in the whites intact. Overmixing deflates them, which leads to a denser, flatter cake.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg. 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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