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 ↓
Gold Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Line the cake pans with buttered paper.
Sift together 1 cup of flour, baking powder, and salt.
Make the batter
Beat the butter and sugar until creamy.
Gradually add ⅔ cup of milk and 1 cup of flour, beating until smooth.
Beat the yolks of the eggs until creamy and stir into the mixture.
Stir in the sifted flour mixture and flavor the batter with vanilla extract.
Bake and cool
Pour the batter into the baking pan and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
To test if the cake is done, insert a clean toothpick into the center; it should come out clean.
Once done, turn the cake out of the pan and let it cool.
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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Flour + buttertop 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
- Eggs
- Yolks add richness and emulsify the batter, while structure comes from the whole eggs.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds tenderness and flavor.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a fine, tender crumb when creamed with butter.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cake rises.
The step that matters
Beating the butter and sugar until creamy. Creaming beats air into the fat, and those air bubbles help the cake rise and give it a light texture. Under-beating leaves a dense cake.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, butter, milk, egg):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, butter, milk, 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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