Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Tea Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
Dissolve the ammonia in hot water.
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Stir in the dissolved ammonia and cream of tartar (or baking soda).
Gradually add flour until a stiff dough forms.
Shape and bake
Roll the dough very thin and cut into desired shapes.
Sprinkle with granulated sugar and cinnamon if using.
Bake in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C) 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.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps the cookies brown during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the finished cake.
- Eggs
- Add structure and moisture to bind the dough.
- Ammonia or hartshorn
- Acts as a leavening agent, releasing gas to lighten the dough.
- Cream of tartar or baking soda
- Reacts with the leavening to help the dough rise and gives a slight tang.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the stiff dough together.
The step that matters
Roll the dough very thin. Thin dough bakes through quickly and browns evenly, while thick dough can stay doughy in the center or burn at the edges before the middle sets.
Swap the cinnamon
The recipe marks cinnamon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, cream, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonthe original
- Capersfits less well
- Jalapenofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, cream, 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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