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 ↓
Pound Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the batter
Cream the butter and gradually add the sugar.
Beat in the yolks of the eggs until thick.
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites, flour, and mace.
Beat the mixture for five minutes.
Bake
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for one and one-fourth hours.
For a fancy cake, bake in a large shallow mold for 30 to 40 minutes.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Whites trap air for lift, while yolks add richness and help bind the batter.
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and adds fat for a tender, rich crumb.
- Flour
- Its proteins set during baking to give the cake its structure.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter it helps create a fine texture and adds sweetness and browning.
The step that matters
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold the air that lifts the cake. Folding gently keeps that air in, while overmixing with the flour deflates the batter and can leave a dense, tough crumb.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, sugar, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, sugar, flour. 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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