Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓
Butter Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together.
Cream the butter until soft and creamy.
Gradually add sugar, creaming it with the butter. Add egg yolks alternately with sugar until fully combined.
Add vanilla extract and beat well.
Add one-third of the dry mixture and one-third of the milk, beating well.
Repeat with another third of the dry mixture and milk, then beat again.
Add the remaining dry mixture, then enough milk to make a soft drop batter.
Beat egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold into the batter without breaking the air cells.
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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Vanilla + milktop 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
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg, milk):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, egg, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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