Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Indian Breakfast 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.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine cornmeal and flour.
Add cold water, sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar.
Mix until well combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cornmeal
- Forms the bulk of the cake and gives it its coarse, crumbly texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds structure so the cake holds together better than cornmeal alone.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the batter to release gas, helping the cake rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acidity that activates the baking soda and stabilises the rise.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
The step that matters
Mix until well combined. Baking soda and cream of tartar start reacting as soon as they meet liquid, so the batter should be mixed evenly and baked promptly to keep the rise even and the texture uniform.
“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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