Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Pineapple Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the batter
Cream the butter and sugar thoroughly.
Separate the eggs; beat the yolks to a light froth.
Add half the cream of tartar to the yolks and beat until stiff.
Stir the yolk mixture into the creamed butter and sugar until smooth.
Sift the flour, measure it, add baking soda and pineapple flavor, and sift three times.
Whip the egg whites to a light froth, add the remaining cream of tartar, and whip until very stiff.
Combine the milk, egg whites, and flour mixture, stirring until smooth.
Bake and fill
Bake in two layer pans in a slow oven (300°F/150°C) for 20-30 minutes, then increase heat slightly to finish baking.
For the filling, make a boiled icing and stir in the grated candied pineapple.
Use the filling between the layers and on top of the cake.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 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 + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pineapple + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together885 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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
- Eggs
- Whipped whites and beaten yolks trap air and give the cake its light, airy structure.
- Flour
- Provides the protein-based structure that holds the cake together as it sets.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cake and helps it brown and keep its moisture.
- Cream of tartar
- Stabilizes the whipped egg whites so they hold their volume.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidity in the batter to produce gas that helps the cake rise.
The step that matters
Folding in the stiff egg whites. Whites are whipped to stiff foam that gives lift; stirring them in too vigorously deflates the air bubbles and yields a dense cake.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, cream, butter, flour, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, cream, butter, flour, milk. 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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