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 ↓
Clay 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.
Prepare the batter
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks until well combined.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Add the beaten yolks to the butter and sugar mixture, mixing well.
Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda, then gradually add to the mixture.
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently until fully incorporated.
Bake
Pour the batter into two greased cake pans.
If desired, change the flavoring or add fruit to one cake for variety.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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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Butter + milktop 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air and add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and creams with butter to help build a light, airy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness, moisture, and emulsifying fats that help bind the batter.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks to provide lift and an airy, light structure.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cake's crumb as it bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilizes whipped egg whites and works with baking soda to aid rising.
The step that matters
Folding in the beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold the air that lifts the cake. Stirring them vigorously deflates the foam, so fold gently until just incorporated to keep the batter light.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, cream. 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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