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 ↓
Tea Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the egg and sugar together until well combined.
Make the batter
Add the sweet milk and melted butter, mixing until smooth.
Combine the cream of tartar, baking soda, and flour in a separate bowl.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.
Bake and serve
Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serve warm.
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 + buttertop 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
- Eggs
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cake brown lightly as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the cake.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acidity that activates the baking soda for rising.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.. Overmixing once flour meets liquid develops gluten, which can make the cake tough. Stirring only until combined keeps the crumb tender, and the leavening starts working as soon as the wet and dry ingredients meet, so the batter should go into the pan promptly.
“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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