Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Gold 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 your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, cream the butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the cream or milk.
Mix until smooth and well combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, or 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 + 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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Egg yolks
- Add richness, colour and structure to the batter as they emulsify with the butter.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cake once it sets in the oven.
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air and adds tenderness and flavour.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps create a fine, soft crumb when creamed with butter.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, stabilising the texture and working with the baking soda to lift it.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Adding the dry ingredients gradually. Adding flour in alternating portions with the cream or milk keeps the batter smooth and emulsified. Adding it all at once can overwork the gluten and cause a dense, tough cake.
“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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