Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
White 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks and beat until very light.
Stir in the milk with the dissolved baking soda.
Gradually add the flour sifted with cream of tartar and the whisked egg whites, alternating between them.
Add bitter almonds to taste.
Bake
Pour the batter into paper-lined pans and bake until golden.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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 + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, and helps the cake feel moist and fine-textured.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cake and, creamed with butter, traps air that helps it rise and brown.
- Eggs
- Egg whites whisked to stiff peaks add airy lift, while yolks add richness and structure.
- Flour
- Forms the cake's structure once its starches set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter, stabilizing the egg whites and reacting with the baking soda for lift.
The step that matters
Folding in the whisked egg whites. Egg whites hold air only when whisked to stiff peaks and gently folded in. Overmixing knocks out the air, so the cake rises less and turns dense.
“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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