Name: Sweet Strawberry Cake
Ingredients: 3 eggs; 1 cup sugar; 2 cups flour; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder; 3 pints strawberries; 1 cup sugar (for strawberries); 1 egg white; 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Sweet Strawberry Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Sift together the flour and baking powder, then stir into the mixture.
Pour the batter into a deep tin plate and bake until golden.

Fill and top

Mash the strawberries with 1 cup of sugar.
Spread the mashed strawberries between the layers of cake.
Make a meringue by beating the egg white and adding powdered sugar.
Spread the meringue on the top layer and decorate with whole strawberries.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and richness as the cake sets.
Flour: Forms the cake's structure when its proteins set during baking.
Sugar: Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and stay tender.
Baking powder: Releases gas when heated, letting the batter rise and become light.
Butter: Adds fat for flavour and a tender crumb.
Strawberries: Add moisture, fruity sweetness and acidity to the filling and topping.

“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.