Why it works: Butter and flour 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 ↓
Silver 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
Dredge the citron in 1 tablespoon of the weighed flour, then set the dredged citron aside.
Combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl, then place the flour mixture in a pan of hot water, stirring occasionally.
Beat the egg whites with 1 tablespoon of sugar in each bowl until stiff peaks form.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and sugar until light.
Mix in half of the flour mixture.
Add half of the beaten egg whites.
Add the remaining flour.
Add the rest of the egg whites.
Stir in the lemon extract, rose extract, sherry wine, and the dredged citron until evenly combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a buttered cake pan.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for one hour.
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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lemon + rosetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,174 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the cake its light, airy structure.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it adds fat and tenderness to the crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps the creamed butter hold air when beaten.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that sets as the cake bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the cake rise in the oven.
- Citron
- Adds bits of candied fruit flavour and chew throughout the cake.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Egg whites hold air only while whipped. Adding them in portions and mixing gently keeps the air in the batter, so the cake rises light instead of dense.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, flour, rose, sherry, wine):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, flour, rose, sherry, wine. 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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